Rusher
by Evolved Homo Habilis
Summary: Warning: Major Terrier Spoilers. Rated T because I am paranoid. Bigger Summary inside. I made this cover by the way, so don't steal it! What if Lord Gershom didn't believe Beka when she said she knew where the Big Bold Brass Gang was? What if he hadn't taken in her and her family in? What then? Beka becomes a rusher. This is her story.
1. New Rogue

**A.N. This fan fiction is a serious spoiler for Terrier, so do not read if you haven't read Terrier and do not want it to be spoiled, ( I do not know why you would be searching this up if you didn't, but….. ). Ok, well, now that that's out of the way, let me introduce myself. I am a new writer on fan fiction, ( this is my first fan fiction written) so please review to tell me what you think about this fan fiction ( by the way, this is not a one-shot, it's going to be multiple chapters ), and how I can improve! It would be much appreciated. I am totally ignoring Mastiff and Bloodhound in this fan fiction, this one fan fiction is solely on Terrier by Tamora Pierce. Oh, and I almost forgot, I do not own Beka and the rest of the characters in the story that you recognize, or the setting, or basically anything else you recognize. It all belongs to the magnificent, . Here is a longer summary of this fan fiction, like I promised you.**

 **What if my Lord Provost didn't believe Beka when she told him she knew where the Big Bold Brass Gang was? What if he never adopted her, and her family? What would Beka do? This is an answer of that unanswered question. Beka became a part of the Court of the Rogue, pushing away all her bad feelings towards rushers to join it. Now, Beka has to find a way to get rid of Kayfer, the Rogue, the Shadow Snake, and rescue the diggers, all as a rusher, using her contacts. In the end, she will have to get a few of the rushers to work with the a few of the Dogs, or leave the Shadow Snake and digger case be. Will she get a few rushers and Dogs to push back centuries of bad feeling and distrust toward each other and get them to work together for a good cause? Or will innocent people die and continue dying because of her failure? And does she even want to take down them all? This is the story of Beka Cooper, a rusher.**

Beka Cooper

Rusher of Kayfer's Court

Thursday, April 2, 246

My name is Beka Cooper. I decided to write this journal after what happened today. I believe that what happened today will thoroughly through my life in chaos, so I decided to start this thing to help me through these times. Ma always said that 'when times get tough, pick a pencil up'. To make this entry all proper and the like, I will describe my looks. I am about sixteen and am about five feet and eight inches in height. I'm a bit on the slender side, but I have good shoulders. My build is muscled for a mot, it has to be in my line of work, unless I want to end up dead, knifed in a gutter. I seem to be pretty in the face, for many, many coves have tried to get me to be theirs, and Bold Brian makes it his duty to make sure I don't forget it. I always glare at him with my light blue-gray eyes then, which is quite intimidating and scary I am told, yet he is so used to me that he has the brass to grin at my icy glare. His nickname suits him. He really has something coming his way someday soon. Though my face is fine and has miraculously escaped any scars, the rest of me is not so lucky. I have a long scar on my right arm and one also long one on my leg. I am sure I have many, many,more, but those are the most memorable, they have a lot of…..history behind them. My teeth are fine I guess. My hair is dark blonde and long, my one vanity (certainly can't have many others with all my scars). I know it could be dangerous, someone could use it as and advantage in a fight, to pull me down, but I have it in a tight braid and there is a spiked strap I braid into it, for all those who dare to grab my braid.

I am just going to skip over the rest of the day and to the event. I was standing on guard this evening, watching closely to see if anyone was trying to assassinate the current Rogue, Kayfer Deerborne, but secretly hoping that someone would kill him. Why, you might ask, would I be trying to protect him if I wanted him to be killed. It was because if someone tried to assassinate him to be the Rogue, ( There are many other reasons to kill a King of Thieves, especially with Kayfer but mostly it's for the position of the Rogue) that means that he or she would be a poor Rogue and be bad to the Lower City, possibly worse than Kayfer, and I did not want that. Plus, I get paid well to see keep him alive. Nevertheless, I still wished someone would kill him, the right way, by challenging him, but so far no rusher seemed right to be the Rogue. Most of them were scuts or just plainly, wimps, and the good ones were not fit to be the Rogue. As for me, I believe that I am not fit to be the Rogue, I could not keep all the rowdy people of the Court in check with talk like a good Rogue should be able to do. Even though the Lower City had weaned out most of my shyness, I still could not sit up there on the throne with all of those eyes tracked on me. At that thought, I shuddered. That would be my worst nightmare.

While I was searching the room for potential threats to Kayfer's wellbeing, a cove walked in with two mots right behind him, from the front entrance. They walked past me and went to a wall across from me. I got a good view of them and analyzed each and every one of them. I did not know who they were, which means they were new. New people make changes. Changes that were most likely bad ones, but could be good. Either way, I would need to check them out. One mot had blonde hair, was plainly Scanran, looked about two or three years older then me, and was wearing a simple shirt and breeches, like me. On her belt she had a gleaming sword that looked very well sharpened. Judging by that, and her rough, calloused hands that told of a long history with a sword, I guessed that she was a swordsman. As I tweaked the sword on my own belt, I silently decided that I respected her and her very good quality sword. I decided that she was going to try to be a rusher in the Rogue's Court. The other mot was a brunette about my height with mixed blood and was wearing a blue dress. I could not tell what her eye color was in the murky light. She had a bunch of string and weird knots on her person. I examined her carefully and decided that she was a mage, not a very potent one, mayhap not very much more than just a hedge witch, but probably around average for mages in the Lower City. They were all quite interesting, but the cove was what really caught my attention.

He looked Scanran as well, had dark eyes, bone pale skin, and long, very fair hair, tied back into a ponytail. The cove had many imprints of daggers and knives on him. He looked lean and muscular, and quite handsome, I have to say. Most mots would probably throw themselves at him. I am not 'most mots'. That was not why he caught my attention. That cove looked like he could take on the court smoothly, judging from his confident swagger and smile, and take down Kayfer the right way, I guessed from his many daggers and deft hands. Now if he was good and would be good to the Lower City, I think he would be the ideal Rogue. Whoa, I scolded myself mentally, don't get ahead of yourself. It was just that after all the years, I was a little more than eager to find the right person for Rogue. I pulled myself back to reality and decided that he might also want to try to be a rusher in Kayfer's Court. Anyhow, the cove seemed to be watching the 'Rogue' carefully. The blonde mot leaned against the wall lazily as the brunette sat down with cat like grace and looked ready to spring.

Just as I had finished inspecting them, Guardsman Tunstall and Guardswoman Goodwin walked in, probably to get the Happy Bag. Goodwin is two inches shorter than me, has short dark brown hair she wears short, is built well, has a beak of a nose, and full lips. She has been a Dog for seventeen years and is all muscle. Tunstall is 6 foot and 3 inches, is long legged, long armed, has a deep set of brown eyes, and a long, curved nose. He looks like an owl to me, but is good with the ladies. Guardsman Tunstall wears his hair cropped, with some grey in it and his beard and mustache. He has been a dog for twenty years. They have been a pair for thirteen years and are the very best in the Jane Street Kennel. They could be in any district, but chose the Lower City, the dirtiest and most crime filled. I guess they just love the Lower City.

Right then, Pounce appeared a few feet away from me and ran over to me, his purple eyes glistening. His black fur was still smooth. Pounce had been my friend for a long time now, since I was little and was very close to me. Also, sometimes, his meows sounded like speech to me.

I asked him under my breath," How is it that you run in here, looking rushed, yet your fur is still perfectly smooth?"

He replied with a cats smile, so that only I could hear, My secret.

I snorted. Tunstall's owl eyes had seen Pounce and found me. He nudged Goodwin, looking meaningfully in my direction.

Goodwin saw me and asked, jolly, "How the hell are you Cooper? Have you decided to ditch the Court and finally join us Dogs?"

The cove and mots looked over at us as I replied with a grin, "I'm doin' just fine, and Goodwin, ye know that the Dogs won't take in someone with a rusher past!"

Goodwin growled, "I don't care, I will make them let you join, you are too good to lose to the dark side!"

The cove and his mots looked interested at that, whereas I just outright laughed and said, "Goodwin, I think I am in too deep in th' 'dark side' to get out, and though ye might frighten them extremely, I'm not sure that ye can go on an' convince the Dogs to let me join."

Tunstall spoke up then and said quietly," Beka, I would not bet more than a copper on that, Goodwin can be quite stubborn when she wants to be."

I knew that alright. Every time Goodwin met me, she managed to squeeze that question into our conversation, despite my constant rejections. Still, I smiled warmly at them. Tunstall and Goodwin had tracked me down after I had helped them to thank me, Goodwin grudgingly, as always, but now we were all good friends. Good enough friends for me not to be shy around them. Despite that, I always avoid doing illegal stuff around Goodwin and Tunstall, I don't want to take advantage of their trust and kindness towards me. That's how we manage to be friends, we don't take advantage of each other. I went back to scanning the Court. After a few scans, I decided it'd be alright to turn my attention to them for a while.

"When will he meet us? " Goodwin asked, practically a second later, tapping her foot against the floor. She is very impatient.

Tunstall chided her, shaking his finger at her playfully, "You know that to prove he is the Rogue he makes us wait."

"Some Rogue he is, sits on his arse like a sarden king, bribing people to stand for him, I'd hope for someone livelier in charge here," a voice drawled, belonging to the cove with bone pale skin.

Goodwin glanced over at Tunstall who was now talking with Ulsa, chief of Prettybone, and then she said in a quiet voice ," Now laddybuck, tell me what type of lively you are looking for. I will direct you right towards it, away from Corus," and added a deadly smile. Giving her the same smile he looked over all of us and I looked away and managed to stop myself from looking down at the floor. Instead, I scanned the room again.

The cat like mot nudged the cove and said, "Rosto, fidget people who fidget you back, I am Kora, that's Aniki and the cove here is Rosto the Piper."

I felt obliged to introduce ourselves and said, "I am Beka Cooper, right here is Guardswoman Goodwin and Guardsman Tunstall is over there, they are the best at what they do. "

"And what do you do, Beka?" Rosto I believe asked, emphasizing my name.

I quipped back curtly, "Why, I believe I am in the same line of business that you and the blonde seek to do."

"What about me?" Kora, the friendly one asked.

I pretended to think hard by scrunching my face and then replied, in a good mood, "You are a mage."

"Correct!" she cried out, grinning. Pounce strode up to Kora I believe and nudged her. Kora picked him up and petted him. Pounce started purring as I gave him a glare. He just gave me a look as if he was to say, you see, at least she pets me!

"This cat is a handsome fellow," She started and then said, seeing his violet eyes, "Goddess, purple eyes!"

Aniki and Rosto gaped at his his eyes, and Pounce grumbled as the petting stopped.

"It's alright, he is just a cat" Goodwin said, smirking at their reaction.

I teased, "Now Goodwin, if I remember right, when you saw ol' Pounces eyes, you swore, took a step back and fell right into a gutter. Tis was the day after it rained as well."

As Kora , Aniki, and Rosto laughed, recovered, Goodwin grumbled, "You probably were shocked, too, when you saw his eyes Cooper."

"But, I did not fall into a gutter!" I teased her lightly, remembering the day I had found Pounce.

Pounce's eye color really was quite...different, especially for a cat. I had almost thrown him out the window when I had seen him, curled up on my bed and fallen of the bed myself, but I had managed to regain my balance, just in time, and I had gotten over my reaction to his eye color to manage to not throw him out the window immediately, though some days, when he is annoying, I am tempted to do what I had not done that day.

I spoke up again, seeing my replacement, "I'll see you soon Guardsman Goodwin and Guardsman Tunstall, I believe that I am off duty now." I went to the privy, Pounce stayed, purring under Kora's touch. Sarden cat.

When I came back Crookshank had a dagger at Kayfer's throat, and it was about to slit his throat, when Rosto disarmed him. Goddess, he is fast and handsome. Wait no, not handsome, bad Beka! Though, he was quite sly as well, because if one was not at the specific angle that Goodwin and I were at, you would not see him slip something of Crookshank's in his boot.

Aniki said cheerfully, "Quick little spintry, ain't he, you should see him scale a wall."

Goodwin replied dryly, "I will pass, I would hate to arrest such a pretty cove,"

As Rosto strolled back, Goodwin whispered in my ear, "Get the bag and I will give you a silver noble and tell you what is in it, don't make me call up my debt."

My curiosity burned. Goodwin was right about the whole debt thing, I did owe her. I did as she said, not wanting to make her call on her debt. If she had to that, she would be in a bad mood. No one wanted to be the cause of Goodwin's mood if it is bad. Let's just say, the last one, a hardened, seasoned Dog with scars, spent an hour crying after, not a scratch on him. No one to this day knows how she did it. Not wanting to end up as that fellow, I pretended to fall over myself and tangled Rosto and I up. I twisted and turned and managed to get the bag and slip it into my boot. Suddenly, I blushed, seeing Rosto's face so close to mine. We finally straightened ourselves up, well I did, Rosto's mots fixed him up. Meanwhile, Kayfer walked up to us with a suspicious, but lazy glance at me. He knew I was sharper than that, but was too lazy to investigate.

"You know, if you had asked dear, I would have considered, you're quite pretty when you look a cove in the eyes." Rosto muttered, dusting himself off, before Kayfer reached us.

I tried to suppress my blush as Kayfer spoke to Rosto, "You are quick, are you and your mots looking for employment? The gate crew that let Crookshank in with the knife are going for a swim in the Olorun unless they can make it back into my graces as wounded mumpers, so I shall plenty of open spaces for new rushers."

I winced. Thank the Goddess that I was off duty when this happened. The choice between being a wounded mumper or dead was tougher than you'd think.

Tunstall, smooth as always, asked, with false surprise, "Why Kayfer, you can't mean to break the law right here in front of two Dogs during our watch? I just can't allow that."

"Not at all, that is why we have the Happy Bag, I will just talk with young Rosto here later." he replied, grinning, and then led them away to discuss the Happy Bag.

Rosto walked up to me and started, "So a pretty mot like yerself-"

I cut him off sharply, used to such things, "Just get to yer point."

"Okay I want t' know what is in the bag," he said, shrugging.

I thought and decide to reply truthfully. "I don't know yet, ask me later."

Kora stepped up then and said, "Excuse Rosto, he was raised by wolves. I heard that your Ma was a herb specialist, do you know where I can get some, we are new here."

I told her and then Kora, Rosto, and I started a conversation about herbs. Surprisingly, Rosto knew a lot more than I thought a cove would know about herbs! Towards the end of our conversation, Rosto asked if Kayfer was going to do something with Crookshank. I answered darkly that he would find his own 'unique' way to deal with that.

Goodwin and Tunstall left and seeing Kayfer walk over to Rosto and Aniki, Kora said, "Oh no, here comes the illegal news, I will be at the lodgings." Then she ran off.

"I like your quickness Rosto and I bet your mot there is good with the sword, would you like to be in my employment?" Kayfer asked, getting straight to the point.

Rosto grinned, using his charisma, "It would be an honor your Majesty."

Kayfer grinned and said, "Hmm...oh Beka here can teach you our ways." Kayfer strolled off, back to his throne.

"All right," I said once he was long gone, fixing them with my infamous ice glare to show I meant business, "Just follow me for a while until we officially get on the street, then I will explain everything."

I walked out the door with Aniki and Rosto on my heels, (Pounce was on my shoulder, lazy cat he is, or as he says, smart cat) and I kept walking until we were a good 15 yards away from the Court of the Rogue.

Then, I turned around. "Ok, I am about to teach you the ways of the common rusher, are you ready and are you sure that you want to be a rusher of the Lower City? Think carefully about what you are going to do. And no, this ain't just some simple precaution that we all do. This is dead serious, if ye back out now, the Rogue will ferget 'bout ye after a while, and ye won't ever 'ave to go back." I was not lying, I want the people joining the Rogue fully knowing the mess they were getting themselves in and have a chance to think about it. I could tell this pair was not likely to do leave, they were fighters, and probably rushers before. They probably knew only the ways of the rusher and were fine with them. Aniki thought for a while and nodded. Rosto looked like he was deep in thought, but soon nodded as well.

" A rusher in the Court of the Rogue must always be ready for anything. You must develop your instincts well and never hesitate, a second of hesitation in a murder attempt can mean the difference between life and death" I continued while walking, then, in alarm, hissed, seeing a watcher, " Quickly, duck into that alley!"

They both ducked into the alley, and I looked around carefully to see if there were any watchers around us now.

Seeing that there were none, I carefully pulled out my knife and asked the question I had been yearning to ask."Are you two some of Kayfer's Birdies?"

Rosto said, his black eyes serious and focused on the knife I was holding, " No, we are not one of his as you say 'Birdies'."

I fingered the charm I was wearing and seeing that it did not let out a sound, let out a breath I did not realize I was holding until then, latched my dagger back into its original place, and said," Good, you two seem a good sort, I would hate to have to knock you out,"

Aniki looked at me with a confused look and I explained my complicated situation.

"I hate Kayfer and am looking for a potential new Rogue, you two are currently the top candidates." Rosto was about to say something, but I cut him off, "I know that you are probably not looking to become the Rogue, but that will probably change quite quickly once you realize how the Court of the Rogue is like because of the big Rogue at the top, or maybe you are planning to be the Rogue, but do not trust me enough to tell me just yet. I get it."

As Rosto gave me a looked that clearly said that he doubted that, Aniki spoke up and asked, " Why did you believe us so easily?"

I grinned, liking that she was being straightforward, when people coat their words in fancy talk, it gives me a headache to find out what is proper to say and what they are saying, and replied, "Well, I have a charm that tells me how hard you are thinking for like for a second, and since you were not thinking harder, which is what everyone unknowingly does when they lie, that meant you were telling the truth, but know, unfortunately, the charm will not work for a year now, I was saving it for a day like this, and it still is not altogether reliable, just seventy percent, but I am trusting my gut on this one that you are not birdies."

Rosto asked, his intimidating black eyes now curious, "Why go through all that trouble for us?"

"If one of Kayfer's birdies knew that I was looking for a new Rogue, he would kill me immediately, actually he would send someone to kill me, so usually I just don't tell that to anyone, but you two look like you could change the Court of the Rogue for the good, so I needed to use my charm to make sure you were not one of his puppets."

Rosto shifted position and looking intently at me, asked," Why do you hate Kayfer so much, what type of Rogue is he?"

I replied bluntly, "Kayfer is a terrible Rogue, he does not take care of the people of the Lower City or even cares bit about them, he just cares about how much money he has, he does not do what a Rogue is supposed to do. I care about the Lower City and do not like how he treats them."

Surprisingly, Aniki asked me a question that I had not been expecting, "Why don't you just take over the Rogue, you are quite good, according to Guardswoman Goodwin, right?"

I replied with the same logic I told myself each night, when I asked myself the same question. "I am not good enough to be the Rogue, I...lack some qualities needed to be the Rogue, such as being able to stop an argument with words and not feeling comfortable as the center of attention, I prefer to use my daggers, and it's worse to have an inadequate Rogue like me, than stay in Kayfer's control, at least then the Lower City does not have to adjust so often. Plus, Kayfer's chiefs already suspect me. Now are you done questioning me?" I ended half teasingly, partly serious. I rubbed my head and groaned, long speeches always did get me a little nauseous, curst shyness. Pounce nudged me softly to comfort me. They grinned at what I said and nodded. Smiling, I lead on, looking for a brawl to use as a distraction to rob people. I stopped once to deal with some kids who thought it would be fun to mess around with a then, Pounce jumped down to try to catch…. something.

After a while, Aniki asked impatiently, "Can we do something now?"

I smiled at her impatience and was about to respond when I heard screams from a cove and children. I heard a person yell, "Dogs are on the way Jack, hang on!" and something else that was not audible, but sounded panicked. That wiped the smile right off my face.

I told Aniki and Rosto, "Please stay here, alright? I will be right back, but if I don't come back soon, you two can go back to your lodgings."

Before they could respond, I dashed off, leaving Pounce behind as well. I burst into the lodgings and ran up to the room causing the chaos.

The sight that met my eyes was that Goodwin was knocked out, probably from a hit in the jaw because there was a bruise there. Tunstall said quietly to a mot with a crazed look in her eyes, "Orva, you have just struck a dog with a blade." In the corner, some kids were cowering and what appeared to be the mot's cove. The kids were probably her and the cove's children, I realized. The cove and all the kids had wounds. There was a smell of hot blood wine in the air, probably from the mot.

With that, the mot jumped through an unshutterred window with me on her heels, there was no way I was going to let her run away, she had hit one of my friends and hurt her own children and her cove! I did not even think that I might end up with broken legs, I just jumped. It turned out that the window led to some stairs, and I landed with jarred ankles. She was running on the streets and I followed her. Hot blood wine kept her going. She led me through Cesspool with the only light from bars and gambling places. I slipped and fell somewhere behind the Court of the Rogue, which caused me to lose her. I listened for her and hearing a rustle of cloth from behind me, dodged. Right where I had been lying, she thrust a knife through that part of the fence. She kept running and seeing her, I ran after her. I managed to get close to her and hit the hilt of my dagger against her legs, a neat trick. She stumbled, and with that little hesitation, I managed to get my knife at her throat. I held her wrists together, took her knife and shoved her forward.

When she stubbornly refused to move, I hissed in her ear," Move, or I will make you!"

That got her moving quick enough. When we passed by a tavern, I took some rope hanging outside the door of a bar and left a couple of coppers in its place. I tied the ropes around her wrist and moved on. A while later, I heard someone creeping up on us and was about to hurtle a knife at them, when I heard a familiar voice.

"Easy love, Aniki and I just ran after you," Rosto said, smirking and added, "We waited until Aniki got bored and ran after you, Pounce helped a great deal as well," gesturing to my smug cat licking his fur.

I tried to hide how my legs were wobbling and the bruises that were right under my sleeves, the bruises on my face were too visible to hide.

I glared at my sarden cat and Rosto and grumbled, "Why did ye not stay where I told you to?"

Aniki drawled, "Well, I get bored easily, and after seeing you run through the streets like a cracknob, running after an actual cracknob, we decided to chase after you."

I cursed under my breath, I had forgotten that they had probably seen me chasing afterward her!

I replied with stern determination, "Well, this mot here is not going anywhere, she led me through the whole of Cesspool!"

Suddenly, Rosto spoke up and said in a teasing tone, " Beka, you are ruining your good looks with those bruises, you should be more careful,"

I rolled my eyes and sarcastically replied," Sure Rosto, I will be more careful the next time I chase a half crazed mot through the whole of the Lower City!", but secretly, I sort of liked that he was worried about me. I must really be cracknobbed to be thinking like that! Anyway, I just pushed the mot wearily along.

Pounce confronted me sternly and said Stop being so careless, do I have to watch you all the time?

I glanced at him and said in my mind, "Mayhap you should stop encouraging people to disobey me!" He let out a mrrwww that sounded like a laugh, as I continued in my mind,"But I guess that gods don't have any restrictions like that!"

He replied indignantly with a toss of his head, I am NOT a god, how many times do I have to say it!

I smirked and continued pushing the piece of scummer along.

"Beka, why are you... hobbling a mot?" Aniki asked, puzzled, just realizing what I was doing.

I replied, smoothly, used to this sort of reaction, starting off voice even, but getting angrier with every word, just thinking about what Orva had done, "Orva here deserves to be in the cages for hurtin' her poor children, they were bleedin' and scarred, a mot should be glad to have three alive children in the Lower City with a decent husband. She also hit Goodwin, hard."

Aniki said, observing my various bruises, "Beka, you'd best check those bruises out."

" Later" I replied, trudging along, trying with renewed effort to hide my exhaustion, healing was a pain, and besides exhaustion and some bruises was nothing big!

We were right at the Kennel, and I was lucky enough to spot Goodwin and Tunstall right outside of it. Goodwin had a nasty knot on her jaw and I winced. That must have hurt a lot.

Tunstall's owl eyes found me and asked cheerfully, "Ye got the cracknobbed mot? Good, Goodwin was about ready to start running off into the streets to find out who had hurt her, the infamous Goodwin."

"You ducknob, I was not going to do that Mattes, I was going to track her down quickly, possibly through the streets. Ye did good though Cooper." Goodwin scorned Tunstall.

Tunstall complained, hands on hips, "That's what I said!"

"Naw, now stop complaining like a child Mattes, we've got company," Goodwin scolded, noticing Aniki and Rosto.

Rosto said lightly, "Now, don't let us disrupt anythin'."

Goodwin snorted and said," Sure Piper, anyway, Cooper, push over the mot, I've got plans for her,"

Seeing Goodwin's vicious smile I asked slyly, grinning, "Why Goodwin, I hope you mean handing her over to the Cage Dogs, right?"

As I handed over the mot, Goodwin smirked and asked, faking innocence," Of course Cooper what else would I mean?"

I smiled and dusted my hands off on my breeches and winced slightly, I had hit one of my bigger bruises. Pounce jumped on my leg forcefully and meowed loudly at Goodwin. I winced slightly again, thanks to Pounce, Goodwin noticed it, my other bruises, and my exhaustion I had tried so hard to hide.

Narrowing her eyes she said," Beka, you go in there, and get the special tea, I'll tell them you are my niece, just don't let anyone see your eyes, through all that dirt your hair color is hidden, don't even resist."

Sighing in defeat, I walked in, looking at the floor per Goodwin's order and also because of my own darn shyness. Rosto and Aniki stayed outside, as Pounce resumed his scolding, ignoring everyone's staring in the Kennel.( I really can't blame them for staring , we were quite a sight, a grinning Guardsman with a fierce looking Guardswoman, who were just in there, with a drunk mot in her hobbles and another quite messy mot following her.)

You were trying to hide that right?! You still need to take care yourself! Or have someone to take care of you. Pounce added slyly, now on my shoulder.

I shrugged, wondering what he meant about the ending of his scolding, and whispered sharply, "It's just a few bruises, nothing big!"

Pounce just snorted as Goodwin hauled me to the front desk. There sat Ahuda I think, the Desk Sergeant. She was the only one who didn't look up at our arrival. She glanced up as Goodwin strode over to her, me lagging behind her.

Ahuda raised her eyebrow and asked, "Yes Goodwin?"

"Can my relative here get some healin', she helped in that tussle?" Goodwin stated rather more than asked.

"Okay, your relative can go to the healer and the scummer will be placed into the cages," Ahuda said, and signaled a nearby Cage Dog to take Orva off Goodwin's hands. Seeing Ahudas acceptance of us, the rest of the Dogs relaxed and continued chatting. Then Ahuda continued softly so only Goodwin, Tunstall and I could hear, "I know she is not on our side of the law, much less a relative of yours, but if you two like her, then she can go." Goodwin and Tunstall thanked her, Goodwin gruffly, Tunstall friendly. Ahuda also added, "and that there mot has just saved one of my Guardwoman's sane state along with, once a time ago, my dearl niece." I smiled shyly as Tunstall who at first laughed, and Goodwin who at first growled, now both gaped.

" It was nothing mam, she is a good mot, I could tell even then, and was just in the wrong circumstance, having gotten caught in a nasty brawl," I whispered, shyly.

Ahuda gently raised my head with two of her fingers and said, "No it was everything, it's good to see it's not only Dogs out there that care and do something for the people of the Lower City." Ahuda gave me a smile, which I returned shyly, and then Ahuda got back to her papers. Tunstall came out of his stupor and dragged me a distance away.

Tunstall asked," Where were the Evening Watch Dogs then?"

"It happened during the Day Watch," I explained.

"A'course it did", Goodwin growled, " Sarden Day Watch Dogs."

Pounce, impatient from our small chat, meowed, Come on, you still need to see a healer!

"Mayhap I should get healed now?" I suggested lightly to satisfy Pounce, the stubborn cat.

Goodwin grunted and growled, "Alright come on Cooper." Goodwin pushed me in there with the mot healer. Goodwin left me there and pulled Tunstall out with her. The mot motioned for me to sit on the seat by a window in the back of the room, and when I did I realized just how tired I was. With the adrenaline running through my veins from the race, I had not noticed anything until I sat down, relaxing. My eyes kept on fluttering to a close, my upper eyelashes felt like they had weights on them, making it hard for me to keep my eyes open slightly. It was only through Pounce's nudges that I was able to stay awake as the mot examined me carefully. I hid my eye color throughout the examination. Finally she finished and then handed me some tea.

"Drink that and then you can go, it will refresh you, you are just tired and have some bruises that I won't do anything with, they are minor and I have to take care of Dogs now," she ordered, putting an emphasis on Dogs, and then trounced right out.

"I feel so welcome," I muttered sarcastically, then started to drink the scalding hot tea, and soon felt quite refreshed. Almost done with the tea, I heard something near the window next to me. Quickly, I pulled out my knife, and instinctively aimed it at the person, but stopped once I recognized the blonde, almost white hair. " What are you doing here!" I hissed at Rosto. He pulled himself into the room through the window smoothly and straightened his clothes. Then, he grinned.

"What are we doing here," Rosto corrected me as Aniki jumped in.

I asked again, annoyed, "Fine, what are you two doing here!"

Rosto grinned once more and said, "Well, believe it or not, this time I got bored."

I muttered just loud enough for him to here, "I do."

He grinned even wider before Aniki added, "I would have got bored soon anyway."

"Ok, well I am fine, so after I get out, we can continue," I said, hoping they would not ask the question I thought they would.

"Oh no no, you can't get away that quickly, why are Goodwin and Tunstall so close to you?" Aniki asked, hands on hips. I looked to Rosto, who also looked serious and sighed.

I explained, "I helped them when I was younger, an' they looked for me to say thanks, an' we became good friends once they found me. We just make sure not to get in a situation where we have t' fight." Right then, saving me from further questioning, Goodwin entered with Tunstall. Rosto looked at them with a different light in his eyes. Aniki did as well.

Her sharp brown eyes spotted out Rosto and Aniki and said, "Oh they are here, well, anyway Cooper, you all healed up?"

"Yup!" I replied, cheerfully, jumping up, relieved to be free from having to explain myself. Tunstall, Goodwin and I walked out while Rosto and Aniki went out the window. As Goodwin said, even though the Dogs know rushers can sneak in here, they'd don't like it being publicly shown, and they might show their displeasure, physically to the rushers. I walked after Goodwin and Tunstall, particularly fast in the main Dog room. Once we got out, I sighed in relief, enjoying the privacy and cool wind of the Lower City. Rosto and Aniki popped out from the shadows instantly. I said farewell to Tunstall and Goodwin, and then I walked away Aniki and Rosto with me. Pounce disappeared sometime around then. We walked along the streets and just talked for a while. Aniki and Rosto came from Scanra apparently, wretched cold place, and came here for entertainment, they were getting bored, Aniki explained, grinning. I smiled, and tried to remember that they came from Scanra, so I would not get too annoyed at them for not shivering in the sarden cold. If they survived, I reminded myself. We were walking for a while when Aniki once again spoke up.

"Where is the excitement?" she whined, looking around.

I chuckled and replied, "Why, all around you, but for today, I am searching for something specific." Hearing some yells and smashes, I continued, "-and I think I just found it."

I ran to the noise and stopped at the tavern, Barrels Bottom. It had a notorious record of tavern fights. I was seriously surprised that no Dogs had not burned it down, considering how many fights they have to break up there. Of course, the people would just go to a different bar, but some of the Dogs don't have a quite bright enough lightbulb to know that. I peered into the bar. I assessed it, a moderate fight, not to challenging to sneak into to get some money, and the Dogs would take a while to get here, because it looked like it had just started. Perfect, those ducknobs deserved it anyway, getting drunk and getting in a fight? Not very smart. When they came to, the loss of their money would be a even harsher rebuke to them than their numerous bruises, and possible time in the cages. I felt a dash of guilt as I thought about what I was doing. I used to want to break these things up not steal in them, but that was a long time ago. I pursed my lips and pushed back the unwanted memories and broken dreams I had had. This was my life now, I have to get along with it.

Swallowing hard, I beckoned to Aniki and Rosto to follow my lead silently, and they nodded. I took a deep breath to prepare myself and then, I slipped into the bar. I was greeted by a jumble of limbs kicking out everywhere. I dodged the blows and sneaked my ticklers into some of their pockets, or for those who passed out, just snatched their money. I tried to focus and ignore the pounding noise and flashes of color. I found a jackpot, a cove with about ten coppers and a couple of silver ones. Once I got that cove, I was near at the edge of the fight. I was going to slip out, neat and tidy, but I saw a gixie, about ten. I felt a dash of deja vu. Her brown hair was done in two braids and she had fair skin. Her clothes, like most Cesspool gixies, were ragged and torn. She was mumbling for her father. Beside her was a large cove, old enough to be her father. I silently cursed all irresponsible parents and quickly bent down, slung her over my shoulders, and ran out. Outside of the tavern, Aniki and Rosto were there, along with Pounce who had mysteriously appeared again there. Pounce jumped onto my shoulder and purred happily. Seeing the gixie slung over my shoulders, Rosto raised an eyebrow.

"Being in that type of fight is dangerous for a gixie, especially if she is unconscious, it would take a while for the Dogs to come, and by then, she would have many injuries," I explained, gesturing to the Lower City gixie.

Aniki accepted it while Rosto commented, "Yer a strange type of rusher, ye know that?" I shrugged, used to such comments and slung the gixie into a more comfortable position, I was still tired from chasing Orva. Unfortunately, Rosto, noticing that, ordered, "Now hand over the gixie, oh no don't glare at me love, yer asleep on your feet, come on, who will teach us the ways of the Lower City if ye pass out?" I glared at him as he crossed his arms. Feeling the aching in my limbs increase slightly from the gixie, I gave up and handed her to him. Aniki, who was standing by, looked surprised at Rosto's gesture. Rosto grinned, and held the girl.

"But you be careful with her," I ordered him, half heartedly, while I was inwardly sighing in relief of the gixie being taken off my literal hands. Rosto just grinned and mock saluted.

He teased, "Of course mistress," I gave him a mock glare and trudged towards Cesspool.

Pounce spoke to me alone and said, Beka, don't over do yourself, and yes I know what you are going to say, I will make sure the little girl will recover quickly, and he jumped from my shoulder onto the gixie in Rosto's hold. Rosto looked surprised, but just went with it.

After about half a minute, Aniki asked, running up to catch up with me, Rosto behind her, "Where are we goin'?"

"To Cesspool, the poorest, dirtiest, and most dangerous part of the Lower City, the poorest, dirtiest, and most dangerous district in the entire Corus. Great place." I said wryly, without looking at her, trying to avoid her hidden question.

Aniki stopped and said, grabbing my arm to stop me, "Okay, maybe I was not clear enough, but I also was asking WHY we are going there."

I turned around and said defiantly, glaring, "I am NOT going to set down the poor girl randomly in the city, I have to find her ma an' give her her gixie, just think how worried her mother must been!"

"Alright, alright, let's go, but how do you know she was from Cesspool and how will you find her mother?" Aniki asked, curious.

"The next time I meet a super curious and impatient person I am going to call them an Aniki," I muttered and then replied louder, "Easy, just look for the distraught mot who is on the side of the street, looking like she was looking forever for someone, and the little gixies clothing store are poor and ragged, and she looks half starved, so definitely Lower City district and the bar was near the Cesspool, most folks from Cesspool gamble and drink there, and her clothing are made of the same fabric that is the only one Cesspool can afford."

Rosto and Aniki looked shocked and Rosto asked, incredulous, "How did you figure that out?"

I smirked at their reaction, but answered simply in a slight wistful tone, "I know the Lower City like the back of my hand, never known any other place and Cesspool was my home." Right then, I realized that we were in a Cesspool neighborhood. I looked around carefully. I spotted cove in a corner, a beggar who was a familiar around here, a mot sitting down, doing her sewing with a baby by her side, some kids running into their house, and a mot who looked very wistfully at the kids, as if she lost one of her one. Aha I thought triumphantly and strode towards her, pulling Rosto and Aniki with me. I gently tapped the mots shoulder and she looked up, alarmed. Her eyes were red from crying and her hair looked like it had been torn out from stress.

"What?" the mot asked hostilely, getting ready to run. In response I motioned to Rosto who walked up and set the little gixie in the mots lap. She cried out in joy. "You found her, but wait what's wrong with my little Melissa?" She asked worriedly, stroking the girls face tenderly.

I replied calmly, "Nothing ma'am, she's just got a concussion, she will be alright in an hour or so, we found her in a tavern calling out for her father and by her was a large sandy haired cove."

"Ah, she followed her gods cursed father, I am going to give her a good spanking once she wakes, the worry she put Fredrick, her brother, and I through!" The mot said, spitting out the word father as if it was scummer. Seeing our curious looks she explained, "He is her official father through blood, but in spirit, she is just mine, but she won't listen." The mot looked sadly at her daughter and brushed the a lock of the girl's hair from her face tenderly.

Feeling awkward, as if we should leave her alone with her daughter, I said, "Well ma'am we should get going."

She caught a glimpse of my eyes and gasped and said, putting an emphasis on Beka, " Oh you are Beka, bless you child, keep on keeping the Lower City safe, you can call me Felicia." She then kissed me on my cheek and I blushed at the compliments.

"Um, Felicia, well we should get going," I said hurriedly and practically ran out of there. Aniki and Rosto were right behind me. I slowed to a walk once I could not see the mot waving her hand. I then sighed in relief and panted. Pounce looked up at me with his wide purple eyes and spoke.

You know that was very rude! I know why you did it, but still, he meowed, and at the end sniffed airily.

I laughed and said, grabbing him and placing him on my shoulder, "Well you impertinent cat, I'm no noble learning fancy talk and ways, I am a person of the Lower City, ye want fancy talk, go find yerself a noble."

Rosto and Aniki managed to catch up to me, and Aniki gave me a look. I answered her unasked question, knowing I would not be able to avoid it. "I ran away because it's not good for people to know me and know how I help them, because that causes gossip and gossip always manages to go through Kayfer's ear."

Rosto asked, his hands gesturing, "And that would be bad how?"

I replied plainly, "He would know more about me, more to use against me and threaten me with to make sure I don't kill him myself one of these days," Rosto and Aniki looked slightly shocked at my bluntness, and so, for a while we walked in blessed silence. After a while, I realized what the time was, one, and said, "Alright, our time is done, meet me at the Rogue's court tomorrow at one, the time before that is yours, any MORE questions?"

Aniki reassured me, smacking Rosto lightly on the head," I think we will be done with questioning for quite a while now, and as for ye, seriously, squeezing Beka for all she was worth to get to know who she was on the first day! You better at least be done now!"

Rosto winked at me and said, "Don't worry, I am all done with the interrogating, tomorrow will have probably close to none, if not none, interrogations."

"Thank the Goddess! Now any other questions?!" I exclaimed.

Aniki asked, cocking her head, "So, can we lodge where we chose?"

"Yes, but I recommend to buy a place in a lodgings that is already occupied by one or more friendly rushers/fighting people. If that ain't possible, it's better to lodge by yerself, hostile folks that know how to fight and live in your lodgings is not the best way to survive 'round here." I advised.

Suddenly, Rosto asked, black eyes curious," Where do you live Beka?"

"By myself, all the few friendly attackin' folk around here either one, live with a lot of other attacking people that ARE hostile to me, or, two, have their own family that they live with," I told him, unsuspecting, just plain tired. Rosto's black eyes sparkled with mischief which at first made me slightly suspicious, but I was too tired and battered up from Orva's chase to care then, so I did not say anything.

Rosto cheerfully exclaimed, cutting off Aniki's next question, "Wonderful, see you tomorrow." He then walked off, pulling Aniki with him. He paused a distance away, and then seemed to explain something to Aniki. Apparently, Aniki liked the idea, because she left voluntarily with him. Yawning, I walked away to my lodgings.

Pounce had a cat smile which made me more suspicious than Rosto's grin, so I asked, "What are you grinning about, are you and Rosto plotting something?"

Pounce simply replied with a sniff, Nothing big, I just think I know where Rosto plans to lodge, and I am liking the idea. Now that I think about what he said, it is pretty suspicious, but never mind, it must be nothing. Wherever Aniki and Rosto lodge, their location won't affect me at all. Anyhow, I just kept walking, knowing Pounce would say no more, but I still teased him.

"Are not you supposed to be like my spy, telling me things and such, not keeping things away from me?" I asked mischievously, trudging up the stairs of my place.

Pounce sniffed once more and replied airily, I am no ones 'spy', not even Mithros's! I laughed and pushed my door open. I collapsed onto my bed and wrote this. Oh Goddess, my cramps are going to be so bad tomorrow from chasing Orva! Sarden cracknobbed mot. Well, my hand hurts and I have no more to tell so I am done. Oh, one last thing though, I hope Rosto is the ONE to take over the Rogue, I really don't think I can wait for some more years for some more good change, and he seems to be a good cove altogether.


	2. Meet my friends

**Well, here is another update! Special thanks to save the sharks and fleetofships1! Thanks for the support! I tried my very best to not make this chapter too similar to the book but there are some similarities that I need to have in there. To make up for it, I added some new things. Anyway, please enjoy and please, please review! : )**

Beka Cooper

Rusher of Kayfers Court

Friday, April 3, 246

I woke up this morning early because of a nightmare. I will write it down, because Pounce insists. Something about making it more bearable.

* Nightmare Starts*

I was skipping triumphantly down the street. Everything was perfect, although it was raining, because I had just helped the Dogs take down the Big Bold Brass Gang and I was glad. Ma's old cove was now in the Cages. Served him right, the way he treated her. She was black and blue by the time he left her. I was happy, and was ready to tell Ma the news of the gang being caged, when I heard some noises from our little hut. Noises like those don't come from our hut. I ran there, dread seeping into my every pore, despite my efforts to reassure myself that it was nothing. I opened the door quietly. There was Ma, being held against the wall by a huge, bulky man. Ma saw me immediately, but the man didn't, his back was still facing me. My siblings were nowhere to be seen, probably in the other room of our two room hut, or outside.

The man was saying, "Your little gixie was messing around in things that do not concern her, she got my gang caged, and my boss killed. Now, you are going to pay." Ma was frightened, I could see it in her eyes, despite her effort to hide it, yet still she was silently telling me to leave. I was swamped with fear and indecision. I knew it was the smart thing to do, but I couldn't just leave her here. None of the neighbors would give a copper for my Ma's life, around here. The Dogs might, but if I did manage to find a Day Watch Dog that would listen to me, and come back here, Ma might already be dead, maybe my siblings as well. Recklessly, I stomped my foot against the floor, to draw attention. Sure enough, the man turned around. "Oh that's yer li'l piece o' scummer!" he spat out, eyes venom. Then he addressed my mother with a crazy smile. "Dont'cha worry, tha' gixie will be joining ye shortly in the Black Lord's Palace. Yer other li'l ones, they go to the slavers." Then the man drew a blade out from his pocket and before I could do anything, slit Ma's throat. I was frozen for a moment, not believing what had just happened in front of my 7 year old eyes.

"Ma!" I cried, running to her body. Her eyes were closed. Despite the fact she was decapitated, she looked oddly, peaceful. Before I could even mourn, the man drew my attention back to him. That was not a good choice for him.

He said slowly, "Dont'cha worry li'l gixie, yer gonna join her soon enough." Then he raised his knife. That was enough. He killed my mother, he threatened to sell my siblings to slaves, and he was trying to kill me. I kneed him in his cod, luckily, he was not wearing a codpiece, so he yowled with pain and dropped his blade. "Yer gonna regret ye were ever born," he growled. Filled with fury, I picked up his dagger and threw it straight through his chest. He groaned and fell down. I went to Ma, weeping. The last thing I remembered of the dream and the day, clearly, was the Ma's face, dead and emotionless. Gone, because of me.

*Nightmare Ends*

I woke up, screaming and crying. I had had other bad dreams before, but that was worse than all the others combined, because that wasn't just a nightmare, it was a memory. Pounce nosed my face gently and licked me. I numbly pet him and he curled up in my lap, purring soothingly. Once I finally managed to control my voice, I spoke.

"I don't know Pounce, mayhap I shouldn't have helped the Dogs catch the Big Bold Brass Gang," I told him softly. He stopped purring and sat up, glaring straight at me.

 _You did the right thing. Who knows how many more people would've been killed if you didn't do it when you did?_ He meowed firmly, purple eyes flashing. Now I know why people find my eyes unnerving.

I sighed. "I know Pounce, but I can't help but wonder that if I didn't do it, or was more careful about not being seen, Ma wouldna 'ave died like that."

Pounce looked at me sadly and then nudged me again. I gave him a weak smile and pet him once more. I love my cat. Finally, once I was recovered, I decided to get up. Pounce noticed it and jumped out of my lap and went back to sleep, keeping one eye on me. As soon as I got up, I winced. My legs hurt like mad, that chase in the Lower City last night was quite straining, the only reason I had been able to go on last night was due to my experience, but now it hurt something fierce. I massaged my legs until it stopped burning, and put on Ma's potion to help my legs. She had made it when I was a runner. I winced at the thought of Ma and quickly changed into my clothes before I could dwell on it longer. Just as I finished dressing, I heard a knock at the door. I opened the door to a small boy who looked very timid, and looked familiar. He also looked like he had been awake late last night, judging from his bags and how his eyes kept drifting close.

"A note from Corporal Guardswoman Goodwin to Rebakah Cooper." The boy said, holding out a piece of paper.

I grabbed the paper and, handing him a copper I said, "Thank ye boy, here's yer payment."

He nodded dutifully and was about to run off when I finally realized why he looked familiar. "And Fredrick, take more care of your sister, Melissa, she's a naughty one!"

Fredrick gave me a tired smile and called back, "Yes, Ma's been telling me that too, thanks for taking her out of that brawl."

I just nodded and closed the door, hiding a smile. I read the note. It was in code, but this is it after I decoded it.

Dear Beka, (it said)

We have found out that in the bag was pink sparkling stones. We showed it to the piece of scummer, Fulk, who said it was worthless, but then why was he so keen on keeping them? Some black shadow knocked the stones out of Fulk's hand. Once we got outside the black shadow dropped it at our feet. I managed to see that it had purple eyes. By the way, how is Pounce? ( At that point I glance over at Pounce who was lying down on my bed and asked him if he was there with Goodwin and Tunstall. My darn cat just shrugged, and curled back up) Anyway, we still don't know what it is, so Cooper, Tunstall is going to check with a trusted Birdie at 10:15. You can come, here is the address. (it was long, so I shall not write it just to waste space on my page)

\- Goodwin

I thought about what Goodwin had written and grabbed a stone from my drawer similar to what Goodwin had described. I absently twirled the rock around in my fingers. Tansy had given it to me the day afore yesterday, claiming it to be cursed. She said it was after she got it Roland was taken from her. She had got it from her husband, Herun, who was Crookshank's grandson. The stones we had gotten yesterday, the ones Goodwin had described, were from Crookshank himself. I thought about it for a while, and not being able to figure it out, just put the stone in my pocket and got up. Whatever this stone was, there was a good chance it had something to do with Crookshank

After I checked a few things, Pounce popped up from his sleeping position. Somehow, he timed it just right, I was just about done with my checks.

"Come on Pounce!" I called.

Pounce sniffed and muttered in cat speak _, I am coming, I am not a slave!_

I grinned and walked out, Pounce after me. After a few steps, he jumped onto my shoulders once more, his permanent perch. I went down the stairs, and was thinking when a tomato splattered onto my tunic. Pounce jumped off me, probably not wanting to risk his newly cleaned fur getting dirty. Vain cat. Cursing, I turned around. There stood Orva's daughters.

"Y'rotten piece of scummer, ya chased me ma, an' cause of tha', she is th' cages, and Pa has to look fer work an' work ain't common 'round here, so he ain't home much now 'cause he's lookin' fer some work!" one cried. I sighed. I had dealt with kids like this, who were angry at me. My Ma was good to us, but, even though the kid's was scummer, they still loved her and, I added as I wiped off the tomato, hated me. The lil' children threw more and more rotten vegetables at me, and just when I was about to dash back into my lodgings, no matter how mad it mad the lodging lady, I heard a familiar voice shout.

"Go back home, ye kids, be glad that yer alive to mourn for yer ma, be gladder that yer pa has two eyes!" Rosto yelled, tossing them some coppers, surprisingly. The children grabbed the coins and dashed off. Rosto handed me a necklace with a circle on it and explained, " Kora made it, she is good with the cleanin' charms, don't worry, the trash will fall right off." After making sure the charm was what he said it was, I pulled it on. Instantly, the food spilled right off my tunic.

"Thanks," I said, and handed Rosto back the charm. He grabbed it and put it back in his pocket, and then I continued, "Now, why are you here?"

"Well, I was just walking by and saw you, and decided to visit." Rosto explained.

I narrowed my glims at him, and replied shortly, "You are lying, but I'd prefer not to know the truth."

He chuckled and added, passing me some coppers, "I also want to know what was in the bag I filched."

"Pink, sparkly, rough gems. The Dogs don't know what it is. I think it may be this," I said, and then handed him my stone. Rosto fingered it and examined it. I continued, "I am going to meet with Guardsman Tunstall to check with one of his trusted Birdies about what it really is."

Rosto thought about this for a while, and then nodded. He said, " Ok, see you at one. Goodbye Beka!" Rosto walked off as graceful as Pounce, mayhap even more. Shaking all silly thoughts out of my head, I went to find Tunstall.

Halfway to Tunstall's house, Pounce asked me idly, _Do you have anything else to ask him, is that why you are going fifteen minutes early?_

Realizing he was right, I put my face in my hand and groaned

"You know, you could have told me earlier," I said, glaring at Pounce.

Pounce shrugged his cat shrug and said _I was waiting for you to notice it._

I tried to think about what I could do in the meantime. 15 minutes. Just enough time for me to visit my dustspinners, luckily, I brought along a bag of a dirt. I went to each dustspinners, near, Hasfush included. The spinners had screaming about 7-9 murders. All together, that was suspicious. I managed to catch in one dustspinners a single persons voice. It was a silky, female voice and it told the three murderers that she had Mage marked them. This was not right, this did not happen in the Lower City. I was deep in thought when Tunstall called out to me.

"Cooper, are ye even alive?" Tunstall called waving his hands. I turned around and nodded. He stopped short and exclaimed, " Jeez Cooper, what have ye been rolling in?" I looked down at myself to see myself in a mess.

"Ooops," I said sheepishly, and tried to clean myself up.

Pounce jumped up to me and meowed, his nose high in the air, Now you know why I clean myself up so often. I get so dirty from just being around you. I swatted him lightly and he jumped away swiftly, before I got to rub my dirt on his fur.

Tunstall asked lightly, " Now what was that all about Cooper?"

I asked him back, " Do you really want to know?"

"Yes Cooper, but if you don't want to its alright," Tunstall said.

I smiled at him and explained the dustspinners magic. By the time I was done, he was... surprised. Who am I kidding, his mouth was open wide enough that it looked like a whale could fit in it, and his eyes were as big as the watermelons. " By the gods Cooper, are ye tellin' the truth?"

Indignant, I put my hands on my hips and said," Yes Tunstall. I am tellin' the truth, and you should be glad I am! I was just about to say I liked to stop at some corners near the winds, and do so for fun! Ye gods, you think they would believe me-!"

I was ready to go on, but Tunstall interrupted, putting his hands up in surrender, "Alright Cooper, I believe ye, I have my own odd habits."

"Like what?" I asked him, curious, and eager to get the subject away from me.

"I have a mini garden, with tulip as small as a fingernail. Aye, don't look so surprised, it's true!" He answered. I was surprised, because he doesn't look like a gardening type. We then headed to Tunstall's Birdie.

I do not like the particular person we met, just writing about it makes my blood boil, so, this is what I'll say. We met Jungen Berryman, he told us that the stones were Shakiths scales , a rare jewel, extremely expensive. That made me remember, the stones of the Lower City looked quite like this. What was Crookshank having to do with 'em?

After talking with Berryman, I went over to the Court of the Rogue to meet up with Rosto and Aniki. As I walked, I wondered if they were already there. Sure enough, I saw an impatient looking blonde mot with a sword at her side, pacing at the front of the Court and a calm, collected cove with light blonde hair, tied back into a ponytail. Rosto gave me a small wave and grinned once he saw me, while Aniki stomped right over to me.

"Why are you late?!" Aniki screeched at me, pointing at the clock.

I smiled at her anxiety and explained, "One, why are you so restless, I am only about three minutes late. Two, most of the rushers here are always late, and I don't like to waste my time, and I assumed you two would be the same, now I know better."

"Just don't do it again," Aniki mumbled sheepishly, fingering her sword.

Rosto appeared behind her, chuckling and said, "Aniki was restless, I believe if I had let her, she would've run off into the city lookin' fer ye."

A smile appeared on my face, I could imagine Aniki doing that quite easily, and I said cheerfully, " Well I am ready now, let's go!"

I walked off into the opposite direction of where we went yesterday day for some change, close to the Kennel. That was alright though, I was not going to do illegal things right now, I was just trying to show Aniki and Rosto the Lower City.

Aniki suddenly asked, "Ye know how ye were sayin' yesterday that there is action all around us, what did ye mean by that?"

"Why young 'prentice, just truly open yer glims and look about. Why I can see many things! There is a young filcher, a boy of about eleven who is trying to steal from a rich mot, but the Dog is a hard a' lookin' at him, so he is going to have to try it some other time. Over there, a cove is trying to sneak some bread into his shirt as another distracts the baker. In the left corner, judging from the yells there is a brawl that people are betting on, and is probably a great place to rob them, with them focusin' on the brawl, 'stead of their waller. There is a old woman outside, begging fer breakfast." I said, and then saw a familiar looking shadow to the side of me, I continued, "and there is a silly Puppy right behind me who is trying to catch me off guard."

I turned around, grinning, to see a pouting Ersken, who asked, flabbergasted, "Mithros, how do you do it Beka! Ye didna even turn around to guess it was me?! Did your cat tell ye?!"

 _Now, I do not like this sort of talk, people are starting think that I am your servant or something! You tell him that I am my own cat_. Pounce meowed indignantly, and seeing my questioning look, he continued dryly, _I could talk to him, but I doubt that when he asked if I warned you, he meant through words, and I do not think your friend would like to have the reputation of fainting on his second day of the job and waking up to say that a cat talks._

Stifling a laugh, I replied, "No, Pounce is his own cat, he did not warn me."

Ersken asked, confused, "Well, if Pounce did not twitch his whiskers or something to warn ye, how did ye know?"

"Well I have eyes that can see shadows of certain Puppies trying to scare me," I explained, grinning.

He gaped, looked ashamedly at his feet, and mumbled, "I should have known that, with me being a Puppy and all."

I felt guilty, I did not want him to get all upset and such, so I brought up a new topic to cheer him up, and said, "Hey Ersken, I don't believe you've met the new recruits!"

He looked up, curious, and questioned, " Really? What's your name? I am Ersken, I am a Puppy in the Provosts Guard!" Rosto and Aniki seemed amused by his eagerness, judging by their smiles, and I smiled as well. Little ignorant Ersken I thought affectionately and slightly bitterly.

Aniki introduced, " Well, I am Aniki that's Rosto, and we are rushers now!"

Ersken then looked at me and asked me, "Are they, well ya know?"

Before I could respond, Rosto interrupted, looking slightly irritated, "We are not one of Kayfer's puppets.

"Finally ye have found some decent folk in the Court 'sides Katie and Brian that ye can talk to without stuttering! Congratulations!" Ersken said. I elbowed him hard. He rubbed his arm and exclaimed, "Geez, do you have to hit me quite so hard! Ye should have become a Dog, ye and Goodwin would have fit like peas in a pod, with yer similarities, like your joy in hitting innocent old me!"

"Ye are far from innocent Ersken, I bet you baited Goodwin to get her to hit ye!" I called back and added, " By the way, good luck with trying to catch me inattentive! It ain't gonna happen!"

He stuck his tongue out and made a playful face, as I made a playful face right back at him. Rosto and Aniki shot me some confused looks at the exchange.

I asked them, annoyed at how their staring made me feel shy, " What?! I thought ye would 'ave known by now how many friends I 'ave on the other side!"

Aniki explained, " No, we ain't confused about tha', we were confused by why the Puppy would want to catch ye not attentive and scare ye."

"Oh, well a few weeks back, me an' our friends found him all muddy. Ersken complained about how he could scare anyone besides Goodwin after one of our friends explained how he tried to scare Goodwin. Another one of our friends betted him that he could never catch me unaware, him being like a lumbering bear in the stealth category. He got all angry and such and said that he could scare me, an' scare me well, so Ersken's been trying to do just that since then, an' still has not succeeded." I finished triumphantly.

"So ye' Miss Popular with all yer friends and such?" Rosto teased his eyes glittering with mostly mirth, but a part of it seemed serious, like this question mattered to him very much, and the answer more. Not really noticing it at the time, I laughed at the very thought of me, shy Beka Cooper, being POPULAR! Aye, that was a hoot! Even Pounce looked like he was smirking.

Still slightly laughing, I answered, "Hardly, as Goodwin and Tunstall don't count as 'friends', I have about three friends, and, as they are all in the Provosts Guard, I can't afford to get too close to them. Actually, add two more to that, I have about five friends, in all my 16 years.

Rosto, for some reason, looked relieved at this, and jubilantly asked, changing the subject, "Well, what did I filch last night? I hope it wasna something valuable!"

"Well you will be sorely disappointed. The gems were..." I trailed off, wondering if I could trust them with this it was very important and if word leaked out…well it wouldn't be pretty.

Rosto saw the distrust I was trying to hide, and sighing, asked, "Beka, why don't you trust anyone easily? And don't look at me like that, I know that is partly why you have so few friends, and no super close ones in the Court of the Rogue. Why?"

Out of all the questions he could ask, I certainly was not expecting that one. I could lie, but that was not right. They trusted me, now I had to trust them if I ever hoped for them to trust me. Shaking my head, I made my decision. I wouldn't tell them why I was so distrustful, but I would tell them what the stones were.

"You will be sorely disappointed. They are fire opals, Shakith's opals the Birdie said, very rich, and it was quite unusual for that many to be here without any forms about their arrival, they are supposedly supposed to be in another area far away from here, and they are so rare, so their forms of arrival are always carefully watched. Their appearance is not a good sign for the Lower City, I have a feeling things are going to get rough 'round here now," I said, looking straight at them.

Rosto sighed in relief and said, "So you do trust us."

"Yes I do, even though ye interrogated me on the first day you met me straightforwardly, most people wait for a few months and then ask subtle questions from then on, and today ye asked me a question that...actually no one has asked that before." I replied back truthfully, sort of wondering why I felt I could trust them so easily. I then added, "Also, I suppose since ye trust me, I should get to learn to trust ye."

Aniki scolded Rosto lightly, " Now ye mumper, what was all that about yesterday, no interrogating, remember?"

Grinning, Rosto replied, "I think I am done now, and I am sorely disappointed now that I know what the bag that was stolen from me had love."

"I am not reassured with 'think', but I suppose it will have to do," I muttered, and then continued louder, "Well, do ye want to go back to the Court, I can introduce ye to two of my friends there."

Aniki smiled at my earlier comment and agreed. Rosto nodded as well, so I led them to the Court. We headed back to the Court, with me telling them what each place was and tips for things like good Birdies or good food, like at Mrs. Nolls, Aniki asking a few questions, Rosto flirted, and Pounce making dry remarks, one about my reactions to Rosto's flirting which I shall NOT repeat.

I spotted the Court and said, " Well this is it." We walked in and I looked around until we heard a loud, raucous voice call out.

"Ah Beka, ye finally decided t' visit us, I mean how long has it been since I saw ye last?" A man called out, strolling over to us. He was bulky and big, packed with muscles and had dark, dark blue eyes. The cove was about 6 feet and his hair was shaved. He also had a couple of tattoos and the look of someone you did not want to cross, but he was also alright in the looks. That's why the man had a had a lot of girls. I don't even know how many he has been through.

I grinned and called right back, " Why Brian, I believe it was what, two days ago?"

" Tha' is long in my book, but wait who are these folks?" Brian asked, noticing Aniki and Rosto.

I introduced them, "This here is Aniki, " I paused, patting her shoulder, and continued, "That is Rosto," I paused, pointing back over at Rosto, who was close behind Aniki and I. " And, they are joining the court, Rosto saved the Rogue's behind, so naturally, Kayfer took a liking to them."

Brian chuckled and said, "Why Beka, ye saved our Rogue, and yet, he still does not like ye, oh and congratulations ye two on becoming a rusher here."

Ignoring Aniki's and Rosto's inquisitive stares, I replied shortly, " I can'na change whether the Rogue likes me or not, now where is Katie?"

"Right here Beka, hallo new 'uns welcome to our Court!" A high, female voice said.

"Katie!" I cried out, hugging her, ( to which Pounce jumped off my shoulder in disgust and muttered something about personal space ) "This is Aniki and Rosto," I introduced, gesturing to them. Katie was mot of average height with bright blond hair, vivid blue eyes, and a petite nose. She was the typical thing people think of when they think of beautiful girls, but she was smart and fine with a blade.

Rosto asked, quirking an eyebrow, "Who are ye two? No offense."

Katie gave a tinkly laugh, like bells, which I envied, and replied, "None taken, I am Reed Katie, an' tha' is Bold Brian, ye can guess how he got his nickname, the ol' mumper, jesting with our little Beka!"

Rosto nodded and said, " Yes, I am well acquainted with her temper, why are ye called Reed Katie?"

Whilst I looked indignantly at him, and he just grinned back, Katie explained, "When I first got here, I was as thin as a reed. Ya' see I was poor in my homeland, so I did'na have much food. Brian saw me an' exclaimed 'Why, that girl is as thin as a reed!' And thus started my nickname Reed Katie. Even now that I am not that skinny, it stuck, don't know why," she finished with a curious look at Brian.

"Why, it was 'cause we could'na think of a better one, an' it suits ye. Also, everyone had already gotten used to yer nickname by the time ye fattened up. An' a'course after your horrendous attempt at playing the reeds, it stuck real well!" Brian exclaimed.

Katie swatted Brian and we all laughed at the sight of Bold Brian, the supposedly 'deadly' rusher, cower at Katie's hand. Once he yelped that he was sorry, Katie muttered something about being able it think of a number of a better nickname and that those reeds had been broken.

After the ruckus, Rosto asked, curiousity clear on his face, "So ye all have nicknames, what is Beka's?"

"Well," Brian started, casting a glance at me, to which I responded with a death glare, he continued, grinning, "Some may think she is Shy Beka, but that ain't quite true. Others may say she is Lightning Beka,but we already got Lightning Fingers, an' even some think that Mysterious Beka, that ain't true neither, she ain't that mysterious. Personally, I think she is Stone Hearted Beka." THAT Aniki and Rosto looked interested at.

I jabbed at him with my elbow, trying to hide my embarrassment, and interrupted, "Which ain't true, I care 'bout the Lower City people!"

"Nay Beka, I am talking love interest way, so don't you bring in yer family now." Brian scolded standing up tall. I jabbed him once more in the stomach, making him wince in pain and stand a little less tall.

I did not like people gossiping about me at all, particularly that part of my life, so why did Brian think I would be alright with him doing it right in front of me I thought, frustrated. Ok, so I usually don't care that much about him doing it, but not in front of Rosto. Oh, and Aniki. Yeah that is right, I don't like it when he gossips about that in front of new recruits. Yes, that is why I am more uncomfortable about it than usual.

Aniki asked, tilting her head to one side, "What?"

"Ye haven't heard? Oh right, ye are new. Well, our Beka here, despite being sixteen, has never had a cove." Brian said.

I added, "And I don't plan to, now stop gossiping about me like an old mother hen Brian!"

"Brian, ye should stop now, ye know what happened last time? I was sure she was going to slap ye right here in the Court!" Katie exclaimed.

Brian continued, grinning, " Beka is fair in the looks, so many have tried to snare her, but either ol' Beka here scares 'em, insults them to the point they walk off, or she chases 'em off with a particular dagger!"

"They are all either bugnobs or just plain rude! And that one dagger just seems to have a better effect to scare coves easier, I don't know why, but it does," I muttered and looked down at the floor, trying to ignore Aniki's and Rosto's looks at me.

Brian went on, seemingly not noticing my death glare, "So far, she has turned down 34 coves, turning them down worse and worse every time, all of them Beka does not like in the least bit! Why, a lot of the rushers bet whenever a cove takes an interest in Beka, if she will accept 'im or no, since I know Beka so well, she has earned me a lot of coins, I mean just last month-"

"Brian, " I interrupted quietly, "If ye do not shut up, I will make ye. Remember a few days back." Brian turned pale as he remembered what happened last time he messed with my temper. It was not pretty.

Katie scolded, "Stop it right now Brian, do ye really wish to get thumped thoroughly, and I am sure Beka has thought of a more creative way to discipline ye!"

"Yup, I just remembered something I overheard ye talking about last week on Palace Street, with a certain someone, mayhap I should tell Katie, an' Fingers,an' Aniki and Rosto here an'..." I said, tapping my finger against my lip, as if thinking about it.

Brian turned pale and exclaimed, "No, ye could'na have heard that!"

I grinned a vicious smile and said tauntingly, "Try me."

"Alright, I will stop!" He squealed.

I grinned and muttered, "Now that is better." Then, I turned around, embarrassed, to see Aniki and Rosto, who were staring at me.

"Wait, I will stop after this, does that mean you still don't have a cove?" Rosto asked, intently.

I blushed bright red and muttered, " Yes." It was seriously uncomfortable to talk about this!

Rosto looked surprised, and something other than surprised. I swear it is a look that the poor children on the streets have when, a person that looks good and kind walks by. They hope that the person will adopt 'em, but wait, that is just plain silly. Why would Rosto look hopeful after hearing that I had no cove? I came up with quite an easy conclusion, but tossed it away. It was nonsense, pure nonsense.

"Well that is nice to know, now...what is Beka's real nickname?" Aniki asked, changing the subject. I gave her a grateful look.

I replied to that one, "Well, I hear people callin' me Ghost Eyed Beka more often than those other names."

After that, the talk became more comfortable for me. We chatted up a storm. By 'we', I mean Aniki, Rosto, Brian, and Katie. Brian an' Katie introduced 'em to most of the other rushers, and a lot of them seemed to like Rosto and Aniki. Another point in their favor, I thought, if everyone likes Rosto and Aniki, they probably would actually like being under them.

Pounce scolded, knowing what I was thinking, _You have to let them choose their own fate._ I muttered back, "I understand, but they are so suited for the job, an' I have been waiting fer so long." Pounce purred and nudged me gently, saying, _It's alright, if they don't work out, I know you will keep trying._ I smiled. He added, _If you don't, I will come around to keep you ship shape!_ I swatted him lightly, but he just curled up tighter next to me. Silly cat.

We were going through the whole evening smoothly, Rosto and Aniki getting to know the rushers, and me just talking with Katie and Brian (They are so fun and carefree, sometimes just being with them relaxes me). Brian and Aniki flirted a bit, so surprised, I looked at Rosto, who shrugged and told me quietly that he had broken it off with Kora and Aniki. I had a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest then and felt happy for some reason, but quickly shook off any strange notions. Alas, the evening could not last that way, for I saw Kayfer and his devoted rushers acting suspicious. Narrowing my eyes, I observed them closely. Kayfer was actually giving out orders, for once, and the rushers he was giving them to were dead serious, and walked very quickly out of the Court, with oil. Something was definitely going on, but what would be enough to get Kayfer to get off his lazy bum and actually DO something around here? I pondered about that for a good minute before I came up isn't the answer. Crookshank. It does not matter what type of Rogue you are, when someone tries to kill you, you need to get them back. Good.

I realized suddenly that whatever Kayfer had planned, it might hurt my friend, Tansy. She married Crookshank's great-grandson, Herun, and had a baby, but the babe was stolen, probably killed, and in his place was a threat from someone who called themselves the Shadow Snake. Something made me suspect that note was'na the first one in the Lower City. Tansy was also currently pregnant with her second babe. I had visited her day afore yesterday, that was when I had gotten the rock. Anyway, she an' Herun lived with Crookshank. I pondered Kayfer's favorite methods of getting back at people, and what he might do with oil. Suddenly, I came up with a terrible idea. With that idea in head, I tried to dash right out of the Court. By then, it had been only two minutes since the rushers were suspicious, but I suspect Kayfer had sent some others earlier, I was in a rush to put it lightly. What stopped me from immediately dashing out of there was Rosto's hand, gripping my wrist.

"What? " I asked irritably, trying to get out of his grasp. One of my closest friends was in danger and he was stopping me from getting to her!

Rosto asked, "Now, where do ye think yer goin'? We were just starting t' have some fun and then yer face turned downright pale an' ye just tried to run right out o' here, what's wrong?" Glaring at him, I tried once more to free my wrist, but once I saw Aniki standing by him, hands on her hips, glaring at me, I gave up. Brian and Katie were gone, Katie in the bathroom and Brian was talking to some of his friends in another corner. I sighed and explained the predicament.

"Some rushers and Kayfer are acting suspicious, I suspect it has to do with Crookshank, I need to go check what is going on," I explained partly, but seeing their unbelieving faces, I told them the whole truth, "and my friend is married to his great-grandson' they live in his house, so they are in danger."

Aniki shook her head in amusement, and said, "Ah, Beka, ye really have connections everywhere! Ye are friends with two of the most popular rushers in the Court, even though ye, yourself, in your own words, ain't popular in the least bit. Ye are also friends with the best Dogs in the Lower City, an' ye are friends with some Puppies. Now, ye are friends with a mot who married Crookshank's, one of the most rich people 'ere who's got his fingers in all sorts of deals and such, grandson's wife?! What's next, ye have a friend that serves Lord Provost? Mayhap a brother that met the King? " I paused, remembering how I had a friend, Maya who worked as a cook in the Lord Provosts house, how my siblings lived up at the Provosts House, courtesy of Maya, so it was possible one of them might even met the King, especially Will, who was a messenger.

"That does not matter right now, she is my friend, let me go!" I said, snapping back to reality, pulling away once more.

Aniki smirked at my helplessness against Rosto's strong grip, and stated, "On one condition, we go with ye."

"Seriously, ye really want to Aniki, you too Rosto?" I asked in disbelief.

Aniki nodded and Rosto said, "Yes Beka, ye can't get rid of us that easily."

"Alright, ye two can go, but act civilized, she is a bit...sheltered nowadays." I stated. Finally able to get out of Rosto's grip, I walked quickly out of the court with Rosto and Aniki, trying to not catch anymore attention. I did not need a posse of people for this. Once outside, we started running to Crookshank's house. Nay, it's more like a mansion. Anyhow, once we got there (while running we did not have enough breath to chat), the place was on fire. I did not bother to observe the scene, just barely noticing that the people were fleeing the building.

"That is quite a fire," Aniki whistled.

Rosto, also shocked, exclaimed, "Well ye were right, love, Kayfer sure got Crookshank back!" After swearing a great deal, I prayed to the Black Lord and ran over to the house. There, I took my handkerchief, dipped it into a fountain, and jumped right into the fire. "Beka, are you INSANE!" I dimly heard Rosto yell once he realized what I was doing. Ignoring his yell, I put the cloth over my mouth. I looked around the first floor to see people rushing out, no one that needed my help. Suddenly, I saw a dark brown strand of hair, and noticed that Goodwin was by my side.

She ordered, ignoring my shocked face, "You take the third third floor Cooper, I will take the second, no one needs our help down here. Tunstall is outside. Now GO!"

Obeying, I dashed up the stairs. The fire was everywhere, blinding me and making it difficult to breathe. I bit my lip firmly, an' forced myself to look around, dashing into all the rooms to look for some stragglers. I met a few, but sent them on their way. Suddenly, I was spun around. There was Rosto, clutching my shoulders tightly.

"I want you to know that, even though I am helping that this was a crazy idea. Next time, give us a warning, alright?" He stated. His black eyes were reflecting the bright colors of the fire around us, and clear worry was in his beautiful eyes as well on his face. I felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest when I realized that he was worried about ME. I quickly came back to reality, feeling my eyes sting, and nodded, not having the words to say anything. Then, I continued my search, Rosto helping me. We approached the last room, with no one else being in the other rooms, and there was someone in there. There stood my friend, Tansy, pushing jewelry into a box hurriedly. In a FIRE she was doing that! I boxed her ears for being so stupid, and then handed her to Rosto. In the corner there was a maid, cowering.

I yelled, "Rosto, you get Tansy down to safety, I will get the maid, now go!" After a quick glaring contest, Rosto escorted Tansy down the stairs to the main floor. I turned to the maid, who would not stand. Finally, after I dragged her halfway down the stairs, she got up and ran down the stairs. I looked around carefully. The fire was subsiding, I guessed that they had thrown water at it, and I dimly heard Goodiwn cursing. Glad of my good hearing, I dashed down to the second floor, and followed my ears to Crookshank's and his wife's bedroom. Goodwin looked like she was looking for evidence of Crookshank's crimes, through his drawers, but had interrupted Pounce. He was fiddling about with the drawers, and Goodwin was yelling at him. Then, she saw me.

"Cooper, get that cat of yours to stop fool in' about, I gotta look fo-" she cut off. Pounce had hit a latch and opened a hidden drawer. Goodwin babbled in disbelief, "Now Cooper, that was no accident, ye saw it as clear as me, he did that a purpose!"

I just picked up the papers as she babbled. I was used to Pounce doing these sorts of things, Finally, she got over her shock, an' took the papers from my waiting hands.

I said quietly, " Come on, if we stay up here much longer people will get all suspicious an' the like." Goodwin nodded, and we walked briskly out of the building.

As soon as I got outside, I immediately looked for Tansy, it was not hard. She was sitting down, shivering in the cold, she was only in a night dress. Carefully, I walked over to her, Pounce with me. He jumped right into her lap to calm her down. I shot him a grateful look.

"Tansy, ye alright?" I asked her, observing her very closely. She was cold and being cold can lead to sickness, and that is not good when one is with child. What she needed were some thick blankets. I looked around for some, and seeing a maid clutching just that, I took it from her, returning her glare. She was not pregnant. I put some warm blankets around her. She gave me a grateful look before replying.

Tansy nodded and said, "Yes, I am good."

Relieved, I tried to lighten up the scene by saying, "Ye think they would be more gentle like with a man who just lost his great grand baby."

"No, why would they? ' Nough of them have been losing their little 'uns and no one has been making a fuss for them." She stated, lying her head on my shoulder.

I asked, confused, "What do ye mean?"

"Why!" Tansy started raising her head, "Most people say that it is the slave catchers, includin' the Dogs, but it ain't. See the mot there, in the middle of the night, a cove told her to put her spell book, the only thing she had of value, in a certain place for the Shadow Snake to pick up. She did not, she thought it was some nonsense. There is no Shadow Snake she told her neighbors. 4 days later, her little girl was gone. She checked the slave markets, oh yes, she looked fer the same blonde little girl. That happened fifteen months ago." She paused, and seeing me open my gob, she interrupted, "I know ye Beka, ye were goin' to say it could have been anybody. Well it was not. Ye know why, the people who lose their children by this thing, a piece of the child's clothing comes back with a symbol on it, a snake."

I bit my lip and narrowed my glims. That was not right, taking children for bribes. Even rushers did not do that. They did plenty else, but not that. Then I said, "But Tansy, that is only one time a cove says he is Shadow Snake."

"Follow my finger, I am pointing at them" she said, raising her finger. Indeed, she pointed at twelve people. "It's been going on for three years. All have something the Shadow Snake wants. The ones that comply get their little ones. Those who don't either get their little uns back dead or never see 'em again. Grandfather Ammon got a paper like that, asking for something. He refused, an' my.. my little Roland was wrung!" She cried, tears leaking out. I patted her back, comforting her, while my inner rage burned. Who would do such a thing!? How could I have missed this sort of thing going on for a sarden three years!

Pounce meowed comfortingly, You have practically been in hiding for the past 3 years and are only just coming out, and for good reasons, so don't you blame yourself. Pounce was right, I had not been very social for the past three years, but still, I should have noticed that something was up.

"Hm...this Shadow Snake business doesn't sound good," I heard a familiar voice say. I turned around to be faced with an eavesdropping Rosto and Aniki.

"Has yer mother ever taught ye that it ain't polite to eavesdrop?" I asked indignantly.

Rosto grinned and cheerfully replied, "Nope, she never did!"

"Well someone should have!"

Aniki gave me an innocent look. "My teacher in the arts encouraged me to eavesdrop."

"Okay, well this is my friend Tansy, Tansy, these two are Aniki and Rosto." I introduced. Ye gods, how many introductions have I done today? Tansy shook their hands elegantly.

Tansy implored, "Now Beka, where did you meet these two, and don't give me lies."

"Well," I started, "They are in the same line of business as me."

Tansy nodded, surprising me, and said patronly, "Good, you need some more friends on your side of the law."

Just then, interrupting our little chat, Crookshank screeched, "I pay you for protection, I pay more than anyone else! Where is my protection!"

Annis, Crookshank's daughter in law suddenly came up to Tansy, and said, "Come on, let's stop him from making a fool of himself.

"Why should we?" Tansy asked, pulling back, "He got Roland killed."

Annis whispered so softly that I barely heard it, "We are stuck with him," They walked towards Crookshank.

"You know yourself that if you want us to protect you from the Rouges revenge, you will have to pay us the King's treasury, along with the Gallan's King's treasury. No one escapes the Rogues vengeance, you should have known something like this would be happened." Tunstall said calmly, folding his arms. Crookshank was practically shaking with fury right then.

Goodwin said softly, but not kindly in the least bit, "Why do you think Kayfer killed your great grandson? What do you have that Kayfer would want so badly, that he'd take your great grandson?" That shut him right up. Crookshank turned white, and strode back into his house, flames or no flames.

I chuckled lightly at that and strolled over to Tunstall and Goodwin to find out what was in the notes we had 'borrowed' from Crookshank. On the notes, there were threats from the Shadow Snake, demanding the stones, which I guessed were the ones Rosto had filched from Crookshank. The past notes did not interest me much, for the threat had already been executed, Roland had been killed. The most recent one, however said that Crookshank had more that he could lose, and that he would lose it if he did not give the snake what it wanted. That made me shiver in fear and anger. What else could the Shadow Snake take? Why wouldn't Crookshank just be sensible and give the Shadow Snake what it wanted, instead of causing these deaths? The conversation that followed it riles me up so much, I will just say this - I asked Goodiwn and Tunstall about the Shadow Snake, they knew about it and told me that they could not take care of everyone in the Lower City. I vowed then and there that I would take care of them. These people were my people, and I would protect them. Anything that hurt them, I would take care of. I will find this a Shadow Snake and once I catch it, I will never let it go.

After talking with Tunstall and Goodwin, I stormed back to Aniki and Rosto. "Let's go, I will show you Unicorn District tonight." They agreed, (I think they agreed so quickly and silently was mostly because I was looking extremely angry), so we headed over there.

"So what was up with you an' Tunstall an' Goodwin? Ye looked as angry as a bear with a thorn in 'is paw and stomped right out o' there." Aniki asked after about thirty seconds of silence.

I paused, trying to find the right words and stated, " We had some... differing reactions to the Shadow Snake. I did not like theirs at all."

"Like what?" Rosto asked. Sarden curiosity.

Forced to fully explain what we had argued about, I took a deep breath, gritted my teeth, and explained, " Goodwin and Tunstall have already heard of the Shadow Snake. When I asked them about it, they said that people, particularly kids, disappear all the time in the Lower City. They said that they try their best, but they just don't have enough Dogs. They told me to wake up, children die all the time here. They implied that the Dogs did not even search for the children."

"What was your reaction to the Shadow Snake?" Aniki asked, carefully, noticing my anger.

"That all those kids deserve to be searched for, despite the small number of Dogs and how they die all the time anyway. That this Shadow Snake needs to be taken care of."

Rosto commented lightly, "Those are quite contradicting."

"Yup." I agreed. " So anyway, here we are in Unicorn District." I said, changing the subject. For the rest of the night, till midnight, I showed them around the District. As time passed, my mood gradually got better. A few minutes 'fore midnight, I decided it was time to get home. When they walked away, Rosto and Aniki seemed particularly devious, but I do not know why, so I guess I will just ignore it for the time being. I am glad I started this journal, for now, all of a sudden, everything is going topsy turvy. This Shadow Snake business, the mysterious murders, and getting a new Rogue on the throne is not going to leave me a moments rest. What a mess!


	3. And that is that

**A.N. Okay, first of all, don't kill me! I am sorry for not updating sooner but school gets in the way, and then my computer crashed, and then I was lazy (okay, fine, that was my fault) , and then, I would've updated last week if there wasn;t this problem: fanfiction didn't let me put this chapter in Doc Manager, and I had to use a different computer! So frustrating, but at least the chapter is up now, hurray! By the way, did you notice that my font is a bit different than usual for A.N? I was playing around with my font style and found one that said Cooper Black, and well, I just couldn't resist. XD**

 **Disclaimer: As much as I wish it did, Beka Cooper and the everything you recognize do not belong to me, Mrs. Tamora Pierce deserves all the credit.**

 **Beka Cooper**

 **Rusher of Kayfer's court**

 **Saturday, April 4, 246**

"What the-you sarden cat! Get out of my face!" I yelled this morning after waking up to find myself staring into violet eyes. I quickly observed my surroundings to realize that there was no danger; my crackbrained cat had just decided it would be fun to wake me up early. "You know, I would like to sleep in for once!" Pounce simply sniffed in response and jumped off me to go open the window, I assume. "Don't you dare, the pigeons can wait unless they want to be knife targets."

 _Touchy much?_ Pounce asked, strolling toward a mirror _. I thought I had got ridden of that bad temper in the morning years ago._ I growled in response.

I had just put on my clothes when I heard some commotion outside my door. I pulled open the door and looked out. There was table with boxes on top of it and it was being carried up by two people. Wait, they seemed familiar.

"Aniki?" I gasped in astonishment. She grinned at me.

"Why, hello Beka. Small world, isn't it?"

Rosto popped out from behind the table, and, grinning, said, "Your place seemed great yesterday, so I decided we could move here. Aniki has got the room next to yours. Kora and I are in the down stairs." I groaned and slammed the door in his face, trying to figure out what had just happened

I suddenly thought back and slammed my head into my palms. How could I have not known this would've happened, or at least suspected it? I recalled how, after I gave my lecture about lodgings, Rosto had a mischievous look in his eyes, and pulled Aniki to the side to tell her something, how he observed my lodging so carefully yesterday, and how they looked devious last night. The day afore yesterday, Pounce had even mentioned that he knew where they were lodging and like the idea. Suddenly I turned to Pounce.

"You knew, why didn't you tell me!" I asked furiously, tearing through my hair with my comb.

Pounce was licking his fur, but he paused to meow, _I would have thought you more observant, but I guess I was wrong._

I sighed, I knew that he was right, but I can't believe I did not even suspect this, I better not be losing my touch! I finished combing my hair and pulled on my shirt. Just then, I heard a knocking. Looking through my peephole, which I should have done the first time, I saw Aniki with two flasks and Kora with a basket full of pastries. I opened the door for them.

"Hello neighbors, I am sorry you are total strangers to me can you please introduce yourselves?" I asked dryly. They laughed.

Kora said, smiling, "Well, I think we met. We fetched breakfast to be neighborly, from Mrs. Nolls."

Turning to Aniki I said, "I believe you took my advice, now why did ye move in here?"

"It was Rosto's idea. Through your whole speech, I think ye were a bit too tired to take notice of his question. Ye said that we should lodge with a friendly fighting person, you said you were lodging alone, and I believe ye are friendly. Plus, there were three cheap, open rooms." Aniki explained.

Expecting just as much, I said, gesturing into my room, "Well come on in, I want to eat the pastries." They strolled in and sat down. We set out the food and settled down.

"Oh, by the way, we got hired onto Kayfer's chiefs, me 'n Rosto got hired form different people, but Kayfer said that we can work with ye for a couple of more days to get the layabout," Aniki said, grabbing for a pasty.

I nodded and said, " Well, good for ye, I still got a bit more t' teach ye, and then ye are as free as a bird, or I guess then ye get a new person to obey. Don't worry about having to fight one another though, Kayfer's chiefs just make sure he is safe, they don't fight."

"Good to know," Aniki said.

Remembering something, I asked, "Oh, Kora, I have had a sample of your charm that takes off dirt and mud, are you, by any chance, a washer woman? I hate washing my clothes."

"Lucky for you, I don't mind washing clothes, yes. I can do yours if you want?" She replied.

I said in a grave voice, "You have just saved me form dilapidating all my clothes, and for that I give you a grateful thank you."

Kora laughed her bubbly laugh, and reached out for Pounce, fawning over him, and admiring his shiny coat. She found the right place of scratch him, and Pounce purred. Aniki petted him as well. Suddenly, there was a loud shriek. Aniki's hand went immediately to her sword and a green blue magic floated on Koras hand. Shaking my head in a no, I looked over. Three pigeons had landed on the sill, White Spice, Slapper, and Pinky. Slapper, bold fellow, marched right up and started to eat our crumbs. Soon, the other birds followed his lead.

"Ye know them?" Kora asked, slightly startled from their entrance. I nodded and seeing they did not mind, took some crumbs and fed them.

Mommy, mommy, where are you? I promise I won't interfere with you and your new man, please mommy, come back? White Spice's spirit pleaded.

Pinky's spirit spoke up then, "We was just supposed to dig a well, an, that's what we did-"

"Beka, BEKA!"

I looked up, dropping my crumbs. The pigeons fled out the window. I turned in the direction of the yelling, my eyes narrowing. I was getting good information before some sarden fool started screeching like a banshee.

"Beka, stop trying to hiding from us, your friends, it won't work! Come on, we are going to have fun! You know FUN! That thing that you seem to be quite persistent in not having!" hollered a cove's voice. I groaned. Wonderful. That sarden fool that I was talking about earlier is apparently one of my close friends.

"Dear Ersken, I know fun and it is NOT being yelled at by friend in your lodgings. How would you like it if I woke up at six in the morning and stomped into yer place and started yelling, Ersken come wake up for fun!" I finished dryly. I explained, seeing Kora and Aniki's curious looks, "That's my friend, a Puppy named Ersken, remember, ye met him yesterday Aniki, and judging by the stomping he brought one or two others, though it sounds like he is leading a herd of buffalo."

"Beka," Verene started, she came from Blue Harbor, and still had the accent to show for it, "There is more t' life then sleeping, waking, eating, and doing yer rusher duties!"

Ersken hollered once more, almost at the top of the steps, "Beka, I am serious, do not make me break down that door-" he cut off short, seeing Aniki and Kora. Verene and Phelan ran into him." Wha-" he started, then stopped when Kora looked at him through her lashes. That was it for him. The poor boy got very shy when a- well any pretty girl did that. He just stood there, dumbfounded. I grinned at his expression. Serves him right.

"Hallo, I am Verene tha's Phelan, and the spaniel pup is Ersken. Don't break him, he's sweet. We're Beka's friend, and we're here to make sure she does not turn into a mushroom." Verene spoke up. Ersken blushed.

Aniki grinned and said, " I am Aniki, soon to be rusher, Beka is my mentor, we met her at the Rogues Court. She is Kora."

"You were there when Crookshank tried to murder Kayfer?" Phelan asked, eyes bright with interest, "I heard some pretty boy saved his life."

"That 'pretty boy' would be me," said a slow voice from my doorway, behind the group. The group turned. Pounce gave a mrrp that was his laugh, and I had to stifle a giggle at the look on their faces. "I brought more food." Rosto said casually, sitting down on the floor with the rest of us. Once we got introduced, Verene asked why he was called the Piper. He replied, winking, "I play well." To show us, he got out his pipe and started playing. Verene sang to a song she recognized. Kora danced to one. Rosto and Phelan discovered they both knew the same person. Finally, we decided we needed more food' we put together some money for some. Ersken and I went it got get the food.

Ersken asked, out of nowhere, "So, you think Rosto likes you?"

I blushed bright red and punched him.

"He moved into your place didn't he?" Ersken asked.

"They said it was 'cause of some advice I had given 'em, NOW" said, desperate to change the subject, "Have ye heard anythin' bout the Shadow Snake? Mayhap from yer Dogs?"

He laughed, and said, " No Beka, I've only been 'ere three days, haven't heard any stuff like that, what is the Shadow Snake?"

I told him about it. Now I have another person helping me.

After Rusher Duties

Today was not the best day. It is taking all my self-control to even write about it, and some very sharp claws. Let me start at the beginning. It was the Dogs Evening Watch. I got Rosto and Aniki, and I showed them around Flash District. On our way back, coincidentally, we walked past the Court of the Rogue. I paused.

"I will be right back; I want to ask Bold Brian something." I said to Rosto and Aniki, and strolled into the Court before they could speak. There was some commotion; everyone was staring at someone in the middle of a circle of people. I was not really going to look in detail; I was thinking that it was probably just another rusher who had tried to cheat Kayfer out of his, but Pounce nudged me, hard.

He meowed, _Go see who it is, it's important!_

I heard worry in his voice, which got me worried, so I obeyed. At first, I could not even get a glimpse of the person, for the crowd was too thick. I pushed through the crowd, struggling to see the person in the middle. I managed to see a strand of the individual's hair. It was a very familiar color. I looked once more and saw who was in the middle. I froze and my knees felt weak. It was Nilo, my youngest sibling. He was pulled onto his knees and his head hung. I just barely managed to see the horror in his face. Kayfer's personal rushers formed a tight circle around him and Kayfer himself was glaring at him. What was he doing here? I looked around to see if he was accompanied by anyone and saw another person I recognized, Will, my other brother. He saw me looking at him and waved frantically at Nilo. Nodding, I turned my attention back to the scene.

Kayfer was saying, " What is a young lad like you doing here, without permission, maybe we need to discipline you. Rushers-"

I came to the middle and cut him off, struggling to keep my voice calm, "What did he do?"

"What?" He asked, surprised that I had dared to interrupt him.

I repeated my question slowly, trying to keep my voice steady, "Ye heard me, what did he do?" Nilo looked over to see who was speaking, and, seeing me, his face lit up. I silently told him with my eyes to not show that he knew me, and to seem terrified again. Luckily, he picked up on my signal, and his expression went back terrified.

"This vermin strode into court without my permission, and I suspect that he is a spy." Kayfer spat, daring me to contradict his order.

I nodded and tried to stop my knees from collapsing on me. I hate attention and at that moment, everyone was staring at me, which was very unnerving for a shy person like me. "So, that's what he did, I noticed you were about to call for your rushers sir, would you like me to dispose of him somewhere else, so if the Dogs come a sniffing, you can honestly say that you don't know what happened to him?"

The sarden maggot was surprised that I had not argued; then, recovering and seeing the sense in my proposal, he said coolly, "Yes I would like that, you may take the boy, please take it far away to take care of."

I could still see some suspicion in his eyes and I knew that I had best look out for watchers before I could talk to Nilo as a brother. I nodded and said, thanking the gods that I had been able to go through that all without stuttering, "It would be a pleasure your Majesty, now come along ya piece o' scummer." Nilo gave a fake whimper and followed me outside. On the way outside, I gave Will a quick glare that said come outside, quick enough so that everyone staring wouldn't notice, long enough for him to notice. Once outside, I dragged Nilo a couple of streets down, and discretely looked for followers. There were none. Pounce suggested to pull him into a dark alleyway, just to be safe. I agreed and did just that. Then, I turned to him, waiting for Will to arrive. As soon as I saw Will, I felt my face go hard and I got cold.

"Are ye mad? Will, how could ye let Nilo out of your sight in the Lower City. Ye know how dangerous it is. Why if Kayfer hadn't got him, a slaver would've or he would've been hurt, just cause. As it is, if I hadn't, luckily, been there, he would've been killed. And as for you Nilo, you went into the Court of the Rogue uninvited, not bowing to him, why, ye might as well as walked up to him and said murder me please-" I said coolly, pure venom in my eyes. Whenever I talk like that, my siblings know I am angry.

Will cut me off, whining, "Beka, please, he said he needed to go to the privy, an' then he must have sneaked out o' there into the Lower City, cause when I thought he was taking too long, and he didn't respond when I called him, I peered in an' no one was there! So I looked for him and found out he went into the city, and tried to follow him, but by the time I reached him, he was already surrounded by rushers!"

I was about to lecture him again, but Pounce talked sense to me.

"There was nothing Will could've done, it's not like he was going to watch Nilo in the privy. Even you couldn't have done anything. Now, forgive Will and let Nilo speak. Don't pounce on him, it's my job to do that!" Pounce scolded. I gave a quick, genuine smile at that. Pounce knows that even through my anger, I still have a sense of humor.

I grumbled and eventually muttered, "Just be more careful Will," and then I turned to Nilo for his explanation, hands on hips.

"I needed to tell you something, alone I thought would be better, so I went to the Court of the Rogue to find you, and I don't know how to address the Rogue, so..." Nilo trailed off.

I thought about it for a while, and then said gently, "Alright Nilo, I know, the Rogue is quite...strict, ye couldn't have guessed he would do that when his demands were not followed. Ye can tell me now what ye needed to say, but don't ye ever do that again. Alright?" He nodded and I smiled.

"Who are you two?" A familiar voice asked. I spun around to see Aniki and Rosto standing there.

I sighed and asked, exasperated, "Why can ye two never stay where I tell ye?" There was a faint smile on Aniki's face when. I said that, but Rosto's stayed as firm as ever. It was hard to see what he was feeling through his mask, but I managed to see something that hinted at jealousy? Why would Rosto be jealous right now?

"Who are ye two?" He asked again coldly.

Before I could reply, Nilo chirped up, his usually cheerful mood back, "We are Beka's brothers, I am Nilo, he is Will, an-"

I slammed my hand on his mouth and asked him sternly, "What did I say about telling total strangers who you are?"

"Not to do it." Nilo mumbled sheepishly once I let him speak. I turned back to Aniki and Rosto. Rosto seemed relieved for some reason and Aniki looked like she was stifling a laugh.

I explained to them, "He has not mastered that blabber mouth of his yet, I have more work to do."

"Oi Beka, I thought by now we weren't strangers?" Aniki asked, pretending to be indignant.

I replied bluntly "Ye are strangers to 'im."

Aniki and Rosto still looked a bit curious about Nilo and Will, so I sighed and explained.

"Alright, now that this blabber mouth" I paused, glaring at a sheepish Nilo, "told ye that much, I might as well as finish the tale. I have four siblings, two girls and two boys. Their names are Diona, Lorine, Will, and Nilo. I know the cook in the Provosts house an' managed to get her to wheedle some others to get them some jobs up there for the older ones and a place to stay for all of 'em. Diona is training to be a lady's maid; the Provoast's wife has taken a liking to her and has employed her. Lorine is training to be a seamstress. She already has a talent for it, an' the primary seamstress in the residence recognized her talent and is training her. Will is a messenger and hopes to become a great one, the type that delivers important messengers." Here Will coughed and I said, "I know ye want to, don't try to hide it," and I continued my long speech, "Nilo is good with horses. I have a feeling he is going to try for stable hand."

Nilo looked surprised and I added, "Ye think ye can hide this sort of stuff from me, but ye can't. I saw you with the horses and I saw the advertisement for a stable hand ye were looking at, and I saw the book, the one tha's a guide to being a stable hand." He looked more surprised, but I just grinned.

"Ye two have got yerself an observant older sister there, you've got to be careful with yer secrets, and she has that cat of hers that can spy fer her." Rosto jested.

"Only if he wants to." I added, glancing at the stubborn cat on my shoulders.

 _That is right, I am only going to tell you things when I want to, and only then_ , Pounce meowed in approval.

They chuckled (At my joke, I don't think that Pounce let them understand him) and Aniki added, "Yer sisters got to be careful as well, ye should tell them that." Nilo seemed upset at that, I noticed, and he looked at me nervously.

"Now as much as I've loved this meeting, ye two need to go." I said, looking at Nilo and Will.

"Well for one, it is WAY past yer bedtime-" I started. Moans came out then.

"Ugh, must we always sleep at that time?" Will groaned.

I said, smiling, " Well, judging by the way Nilo's eyes keep fluttering shut, an' how yer talk is becoming slightly slurred, I am saying yes." They looked disappointed there. I knew I was right so I continued, "Right, so Will and Nilo, a cart will come through here in approximately five minutes, it is heading to the Provosts house. They don't check it here, in the city, so ye can hop onto it here while the Guards are looking away. Once at the Provosts place- wait do ye know any of the Guard at night?"

"Yes, we know Ian." Will said. Nilo seemed oddly quiet. When I looked at him, he would stare at the ground and shuffle his feet.

"Ok, " I continued, pushing my worries about Nilo out of the way, "Once there, ye can find this Ian and ask him to let ye inside. Ye can't stay in the cart, 'cause they check it right before they bring it into the house. Ian let's ye in an' there yer back at the Provost's place," I said.

Will asked curiously, "How do ye know this?"

I grinned and said, " Why dear brother, I know the goings on of the Lower City like the back of my hand."

"When can we visit ye next, next week?" Will asked, already recovered.

Aniki said wryly, " I would've thought that ye wouldn't have been so eager to come back here after this...educating experience." Will blushed and looked down.

I smiled, but then shook my head and said, " Will, Nilo, I am afraid ye can't visit me anytime soon."

"What?! Why-" Will started, Nilo looked surprised as well.

I cut them off, " Look, Nilo, I just told Kayfer I would 'take care of you', do ye really think that he thought I meant sending you off to yer home with a stern scoldin'? He would kill you and me the second his Birdies or he sees ye. He already suspects me. I don't want to add even more things to the list as to why he should. And as for you, Will an' the rest of 'em, something is amiss in the Lower City, I do not want ye down here until it's settled. I was a fool to even let ye visit me with Kayfer 'round, but now, with this other stuff going on AND Kayfer keeping a special eye on me, if I let ye come down 'ere it must mean that I want you dead!"

"Beka," Nilo said in a quiet voice, "I know we cannot visit you, but can you visit us?"

"What?" I asked, startled. Aniki and Rosto looked startled as well. Even calm Pounce stopped licking his fur. Well, more like Pounce paused and then continued licking his fur. Seriously, how much more vain can a cat get?

Nilo explained, "Well, ye know so much like right now, ye found us a way to get back to the Provosts house, couldn't ya find a way fer yerself?"

"Nilo, the Provost, he is official enemy of the Rogue, to ask Beka, a rusher to-" Rosto started.

I said, interrupting him, "Ok Nilo, I will visit ye."

Rosto stared at me for a bit and asked, "Beka are ye mad?! How're ye going to find a way to break into the Provost place, the most secure place there is 'sides the Kings palace?!"

"I won't break in, I'll ask permission," I said. Rosto and Aniki stared at me like I was saying that I was planning to eat scummer and hope it wold taste like cookies. I half expected them to drag me down to an asylum for the insane. I continued, hoping that because they weren't screaming mad woman, I had a chance to convince them, "Look, I will just disguise myself with a wig and avoid eye contact; they won't recognize me. Will and Nilo can get a Guard from the Day Watch they know to let me into the place, saying I'm their cousin or somethin'. See, it ain't mad."

Aniki commented lightly, " Ye know, that could work."

"C-" Rosto said, then cut himself off and continued, " Alright, I guess it 'could work'."

"Then it is settled, ok, come on, Nilo and Will, let's go catch the cart, I think it is coming in about, two minutes now. Don't worry about being late, the street it will come into is just right out of this alley and down a street." I said, pleased that everything was settled.

Nilo said softly, nervous, "Um, Beka I still need to tell you something."

"That's right, I forgot, go ahead, lad," I said.

Nilo looked nervous once more, looking around, and asked, "Um remember what I said about wanting to tell you about it privately?"

"Oh right, well now go ahead," I said, bending down for him to whisper in my ear. Pounce hopped off, but walked by to hear what Nilo was saying. I was a little nervous, I mean what was big enough for Nilo to sneak into the Lower City, but I passed it off. I mean he is 10. 'Big news' to him is probably some new gossip he heard or that he found out one of my siblings had stayed up late. Calm once more, I listened.

Nilo hesitated, but then, after taking a deep breath he whispered, "I know I should have not sneaked about, but I was bored, so I followed Diona after breakfast to a garden and there was a few girls waiting for her, Lady Teodorie was there as well. My Lady asked if Diona was ready, and Diona nodded. They went through this whole ceremony, and at the end Lady Teodorie said 'You are now free from her' and," Nilo paused, gulping, "Diona, she said, 'So I Diona Cooper am no longer relate to Rebakah Cooper' and she said your name like poison, that was the worst part, she said 'Rebakah Cooper is no longer my sister.'"

First, I was wondering if I was dreaming, but a firm pinch on my arm proved that wrong. Then, I thought that maybe Nilo was just kidding, and was trying to make a joke, but no, he had acted quite serious, and he was a smart boy. He wouldn't have gone into the Lower City alone for a joke. Finally, I came to the true conclusion and my least favorite.

Diona had renounced me. As in, she had decided that I was no longer her sister. I pictured Diona in front of me. Despite my desperate efforts to try to believe that she would never do that, it is quite believable. Diona and the others had found out a month ago that I had become a rusher. I had tried to keep it a secret, knowing what Diona would think. Although the others were too young to remember, Diona and I remember those rushers Mama had taken to bed. She remembered about how cruel they were. Diona hated rushers ever since and I did too, for a while, but that had changed. Diona was horrified to learn that I was a rusher. Her face was of pure disgust when she had heard the news. Diona would definetly renounce me if that's what she thought of rushers.

Diona, that little sister who I had always played with and made fun of and laughed with had decided that I was not her sister. Blank shock soon gave way to sadness and despair. Pounce batted at my hand, and I came back to reality, seeing Nilo's worried face in front of mine. I quickly blinked away any on coming tears.

I glanced over at Will and, Nilo, understanding, whispered, " Diona did not tell us officially, she said at that ceremony thing that she would tell you and me and everyone else the next time you came to get us for a visit."

I nodded, gave him a fake smile and hiding my grief, clasped his hands in mine, and said, "Thank you Nilo, come on, let's go get you on the cart." I led Nilo and Will to the cart in some sort of a daze. They hopped onto the cart, and Nilo gave me one last worried look, before the cart went off. As soon as the cart was out of sight, I turned away and started walking home.

"Beka, where are you going?" Aniki asked, confused.

"Shift's over. I am going home, night." I croaked out and ran, not wanting them to see my tears. They fell by millions and I realized that the last time I had cried was a long time ago. I knew that I should've stopped crying and regained my senses, because it was not safe to be senselessly running around in the Lower City, but I just couldn't. Diona, my little sister, was gone. Now tere was only Lady Diona. She had left me. Finally, I realized that I was a block away from my boarding house. I walked into it up the stairs and opened the doors. At least I assume I did because all I remember was throwing myself on my bed, holding Pounce and crying like there was no tomorrow.

I've only just stopped crying and recovered my wits enough to write this entry. The whole idea of Diona not being my sister is so foreign, yet so real and true. Family Forever. That was Mama's last words, "Family forever". Those last words are one of the few things of that day that did not engulf me in sorrow for my mother, but today, I was still sad from it. Those last words were supposed to comfort me when Mama died, to tell me that even when she was in the Black Lords realm, we would still be family. What is making me sad is that, it isn't true anymore, Diona is not my family anymore. Wait, that sounds like I am giving up on her, but that ain't true. I will always wait for Diona to accept me as her older sister. I love Diona and I don't care what she says, I don't care if she throws me into jail and cuts off my pinky! I will always protect Diona; she is my little sister and will always be. And that is that.


	4. Mask

**A.N Merry Christmas everyone! Here is a new chapter as yet another present! Also, my deepest condolences for those of you who had a loved one who was killed in either the Paris or San Bernadino attack from ISIS. I am so sorry for you, and I hope that you'll be able to get through these touch times. Well read ahead, you deserve it after me not updating for more than a month. If you want to hear my excuses and such, read on. Firstly, I am so, so sorry! I was going to update during Thanksgiving Break, but then I got lazy. Then, until Winter Break, I had no time at all due to school. Next, last Friday, I was going to fix up this chapter and update, but alas, my parents dragged me to somewhere with no Wi-Fi. Finally, I sat myself down today and forced myself to make this chapter and update. So, voila.**

Beka Cooper

Rusher of Kayfer's Court

Sunday. April 5

I woke up to my normal room with a hint of depression on me. Had I forgotten something, my sleepy brain wondered. Everything seemed normal, my desk with papers, the hard cold floor, my oh so comfy bed, Pounce curled up by me, and my strangely wet pillows- tears. That was what it was wet from. Yesterday's memories flooded back to my mind and I felt tears threatening to spill yet again, but Pounce saved me with a kind, but firm nudge. _Don't. Don't get stuck in yesterday again. Focus on today. Focus on your room. Focus on your poor cat who had nothing to eat for dinner yesterday and is starving._ I shook my head and gave him a watery smile. It was all I could manage. Pounce seemed to take it though, and sat up. He walked over to the window and pawed at the blinds. Sighing, I got up and opened them. Luckily, no pigeons were in sight.

I made my bed. I walked over to my closet and changed swiftly. With a sigh, I numbly put my hair into a braid and glanced over at Pounce. He was curled up on my bed, and I thought that he was already asleep until he meowed without opening his eyes. _Don't drag yourself back in the past keep looking forward._ "I don't need to-" I started saying before Pounce cut me off. _Stop denying that today is like any other day. Accept its bad difference from other days and move on until you actually have a normal day. You'll never feel better if you keep denying it._ How did that cat know me so well? I _**was**_ truly pretending that today was normal, and honestly, it was making me feel sick.

I nodded gratefully and before he could sense it, gave my jinglenobbed, sweet cat a hug. Pounce grumbled, _Cats need to be given more respect in this day and age, honestly, you'd think we were stuffed animals! I laughed at him and his silliness._

"Well then curse all the gods for bringing you to me, you are going to be getting many more hugs living with me!" I said, smiling. Pounce gave me an annoyed look and I finally let him go. He licked his fur as if to clean it from my touch. I gave him a look. _What_? He asked innocently. I just shook my head at him until a knock interrupted our conversation. I was brought back to reality and felt like crying all over again. Pounce gave me an encouraging nudge, so I opened up the door.

"Hello Beka," Aniki greeted me hesitantly. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but held her tongue.

I didn't react in any way besides asking, "Welcome, you here to eat up my entire food supply?"

She smiled and said, "Hey, I brought some food last time and this time, Kora is bringing our food."

"Our food?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "Seems more like Kora's food."

"Hush you, I gave her half of the money to pay for it, so it is also mine." Aniki replied, a slightly irritated but mostly relieved expression on her face.

I forced a small, but a little real, smile grace my lips and simply stepped out of the way to let her in. She walked in and I closed the door behind her. We quickly set up the breakfast zone. Halfway through, another knock sounded. I walked over to the door to open it and opened it to see Kora.

"So here is the one with food," I said loud enough for Aniki to hear. Kora smiled slightly.

Kora stepped in and said, "You know, she's sticking a tongue out at you?"

I nodded. "I figured that out." I said, and hearing Aniki's groan, I continued, "Yes and Aniki, I knew that you were making a face too." I finally turned around to see Aniki's sour face.

Heaviness was still on my heart as I sat down on the carpet, despite my seemingly light banter. Diona's rejection of me still hurt like a knife in the back, except it was worse. I had openly revealed my heart to her, my trust, my love, making it even more painful. I bit my lip gently. No crying. No weakness showing in front of anyone besides Pounce. That would only get me killed. I felt Pounce's disapproving gaze on my back. Despite wanting me to move on, he also wanted me to not hide my feelings. I just couldn't do it though. That shy girl who was free and could openly show her feelings once in a while was long gone. Now was only left a cold-hearted girl who could only fake smiles and never show her true emotions, a girl that believed that the entire world was against hers because it was. One who could never trust as easily as she used to, even if it wasn't exactly easy before either.

I plastered on a fake smile and walked over to Aniki and sat down. We chatted a bit as we finished setting up. Finally, just as I was about to sit down to actually eat, two people burst in.

"Sure, don't knock, jumping right into people's houses is perfectly fine and acceptable." I said sarcastically, facing the two new people. Ersken sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck while Rosto just stared at me, trying to read my emotions. I shook my head. Aniki and Rosto could try as hard as they wanted to, I wasn't going to open up all of a sudden.

Instead, I just went back to eating my food. Aniki, Rosto, and Kora went on talking about some Scanran fellow they knew while Ersken spoiled my vain cat rotten with treats. I was glad for the time to be alone with my thoughts until Rosto steered his gaze towards me. I knew that look. He wanted answers. Unlike Aniki, who was just glad to see that I had reached some sign of normalcy, Rosto wanted to know, or at least probe a bit to make sure I was truly going to be fine. Honestly, I was a bit flattered and confused. I had just met them, why would they care so much about me?

Rosto asked with a mischievous look in his eyes, "So, what are we doing today, trainer?"

"Give me a second Rosto, I just woke up, I'm still half asleep!" I complained, but eyed him cautiously.

"Oh, my you didn't plan ahead for our schedule? For shame Beka." He bantered, his lips curling upwards.

I gave him a look and said, playfully, "Well, I wasn't sure that ye would stay after ye and Aniki found out the whole deal of a rusher yesterday, so it wouldn't be much good to plan ahead and then find out that ye two went scuttlin' off to another country or tried to and ended up with a knife in yer back, now would it?"

Rosto placed a hand on his heart dramatically, and exclaimed "I am hurt that ye would think that I would run away so suddenly and even without a goodbye!"

"Most people would consider me thinking that they would run away from rusher's duties a compliment that shows I think they may have been blessed with some sort of sense at all in this crazy world to get a less dangerous job, mayhap a tailor." I replied dryly.

Aniki cut in there saying, "Well I am sorry, you are stuck with us; sadly we don't have any sense."

Kora asked, worried, "Is being a rusher really that dangerous?"

"Extremely. Just living in this day and age and being born t' a family that is not noble or royalty is dangerous. Living in the Lower City of Corus is moderately dangerous. Being a rusher or Dog makes it even more dangerous, but I think Rosto and Aniki will be just fine. They have the instincts and skills for this and are clever enough. Rosto and Aniki are also used to this type of living, I can tell. Don't worry about them much, okay?" I asked, face grim.

Kora looked relieved at what I said and she nodded. "Beka, you are so morbid about life," Aniki remarked. I shrugged and started to eat my food. That's what happens when your childhood gets stolen from you. Breakfast continued and talk went on while I tensely sat. Diona had hurt me. I just couldn't get over it. Phelan and Verene leisurely strolled in.

"There is a door, and you two have a hand, connect the two please," I muttered, annoyed.

Meanwhile, Aniki took a different approach. She asked with a devious smile, "So, where were ye two? All of us were wondering what could've possibly happened."

Verene blushed a dark red and Phelan's face looked like it was about to explode. "Um, we, we, we were buying some pastries and got a bit late."

Kora saw where Aniki was going with this and asked with a seemingly innocent smile, "But, where are the pastries?"

"We, uh, dropped them." Phelan stammered.

Rosto also caught on and asked with a smirk, "Where did you drop them, I am sure we can get them back."

"The river, we dropped them in the river," Verene said quickly.

Aniki continued, enjoying her torture of them, "Why would you be anywhere near the arrive to buy pastries? The river is on the other side of town from the bakeries and this place." Erksen was completely and utterly confused through all of this, just looking at us in confusion.

Verene and Phelan were now so embarrassed that it was just sad. Taking pity on them, I spoke up, "Stop torturing Verene and Phelan, the poor things look like tomatoes." Aniki sighed and nodded while Kora and Rosto gave me a pouty look and then finally nodded.

"Thanks Beka," Verene said as she sat down beside me.

"No problem, but you Phelan must learn to be better liars! I swear a mere child could lie better than the two of you," I teased.

Ersken looked at all of us with a baffled look on his face and asked, "Hold on, what's everyone blushing about?" Kora, Aniki, and Rosto couldn't help themselves anymore and burst into laughing. Verene and Phelan stared at their plates like they were the most interesting things in the world, and I just looked at Ersken pityingly.

"You poor, poor innocent boy," I said.

"What?" He asked, completely oblivious. That set off more laughter, more blushes, and more sad looks. I always have to save my friends from embarrassment, eh? I gently clapped Ersken on the shoulder and changed the subject for his pride. The rest of breakfast passed by rather peacefully until it was time to clean up. Ersken left, saying that he needed to help his Ma with something. Phelan and Verene left together, each with their own excuse, which frankly did not spare them any teases at all. Kora had some washing to do and left as well.

I turned to Rosto and Aniki and asked them, "Ye ready for yer rusher duties?"

Rosto and Aniki said, "Yes."

I told them, "Ok now, I want t' show ye the two different districts at night, so right now, I am going to drill ye on the types of fighting a rusher usually does."

"Sounds good, what are the different types of fighting?" Aniki asked.

I told them, " Well, there are many weapons, so there are many different types of fighting, but...let's just go with these three that ye will probably use the most. Swords, I think ye will do well with that Aniki, daggers and knives, Rosto it looks like yer good with that, and hand to hand fighting, I am not sure if either of ye are good with that. Hm.. ye know what, I will duel each of ye in those fer right now, then I'll drop by the Court of the Rogue an' find the best in each it those areas."

Pounce suddenly meowed, _You should probably practice with the wooden swords in your drawer, so they don't kill you. Aniki in particular seems good with the sword._

I nodded, knowing he was right and added, "Fer right now, when we duel with swords, I have some wooden ones so we do not kill each other. With the daggers and knives, you have to aim purposely in real life, so you have to do the same here. During hand to hand, well ye aren't usually supposed to kill anyway with that."

"Ok, but where will we practice?" Rosto asked.

I thought about it and exclaimed, " Hm... good question...ah, the stables!"

"The stables?" Aniki asked, wrinkling her nose, " Now I am not a noble lady or anythin', but I still do not enjoy the stables."

I said, "No, ye see, the owner of these lodgings, she had some knights stay here once an' they had horses, but she had no stables, 'cause she did not expect rich people with horses to stay here, so after the experience, in which the horses had to stay outside, she added the stables. Unfortunately, no one else came with horses to her lodgings, so now, it is just a bunch of open space with hay in it."

"Whew, good!" Aniki exclaimed.

I told them, " Ok, it's settled, now go get your knifes and daggers."

They went to their rooms to get their weapons whilst I got mine. IN my room, I glanced longingly at my bed, wanting to just curl up in a ball there and cry. Pounce brought me back to reality by meowing, _Just get through the day Beka. I know that what_ _she_ _did to you hurt you terribly, but you have to go on._ I nodded, seeing his sense, and I quickly wiped tears out of my eyes. I then opened my drawer full of weapons. I fastened on my two daggers on my boots, two under my sleeves on my upper arms, one in my hair along with my spike strap, two on my belt, and one on my shin, for a surprise attack. I pulled on my black tunic, in case things got dirty and it was thin enough for me to sweat easily. I pulled on my black breeches for the same reason. I pulled out three wooden swords. All equipped, I strolled downstairs with Pounce to the stables where Aniki was already waiting. The stables have a layer of hay on the floor. That was good for if one of us was to fall, for it would soften the fall. There are only three separate stalls, but each was quite big, so we would have plenty of room. The stables are made out of wood and have a musty sort of smell that was comforting. We did some stretches whilst we waited from Rosto. A few minutes later, Rosto finally walked in.

"So, who wants to go first?" I asked, ready to start, thinking that maybe fighting would take my mind off D-her.

"I'll go." Aniki offered.

I nodded and asked, "What do ye want t' do first?"

Aniki thought for a bit and then said, "I'll do the sword first."

"Aye, she likes starting with her best!" Rosto called out.

"No talking from the sidelines!" I called back. Aniki grinned. I tossed her a sword, kept on for myself, an' tossed one to the side. " Okay, now, " Ready?" I asked her, noticing from the corner of my eyes Pounce sitting on the fence of on of the stables.

"Ready!" She called back.

We started. Aniki swung her sword towards my feet, and I jumped back, wary. She was good. I decided in the split second that I would act bad at the beginning, and then, when she will get over confident, which most people do, I'll strike. Aniki struck again, this time aiming for my neck to force me into a surrender position. I pretended I was surprised and brought up my sword to block a second before it would be to late. She pushed hard against our swords combined, and I let her force my sword down. As soon as she did so, I brought my sword up in ready position. Aniki tried it strike again, aiming for my abdomen, I brought it up once again, a split second before she was about to hit me. She pulled her sword away from mine and went for another strike. I ducked and had the perfect opportunity to press my sword against her throat, but did not. Aniki seemed surprised and pleased at that. She smiled. Good, she was overconfident now. Once she was recovered, I gave a weak strike for her arm, which she easily dodged. Aniki thrust her sword towards my head, and I made it look like when I ducked, it was by pure luck I made it. She smiled again. It was time. Aniki went once more for my throat, as quick as lightning, but I used my full abilities and dodged and thrust my sword to her throat.

"Yield," I gasped, for by now I was sweating and out of breath. Aniki froze and looked surprised. Then she grinned and dropped her sword.

"I yield." She said, raising her hands up. I lowered my sword down carefully and watched her to make sure she was not going to try to get her sword and attack. I kicked her sword to the side and walked backwards to the wall. I then collapsed against it. I sighed with relief and brushed my bangs out of my face. Aniki followed in my lead.

Pounce meowed, jumping on my shoulder, _I see that, you used her pride against her, interesting..._

Without saying anything out loud, I teased him, Yes, maybe I'll use that against you. Pounce just sniffed and did not say anything else.

Once my breath steadied, I said, "You are good, but yer problem is, ye know that, so yer over-confident."

Aniki just stared at me for a bit and then exclaimed, "Ye were pretending to be bad so you could lull me into a false sense of security! Ye tricky mot!"

I grinned and said, "That's what ye got to learn, not openly display yer abilities."

"Ah, she got ye!" Rosto exclaimed, chuckling.

Aniki glared at him and said, " She'll get ye next."

"Yes, but please give me a bit of time to recover." I pleaded, trying to steady my heartbeat. "Ye know what, why don't we go get water bottles, I have a feeling this will be a workout." Aniki and Rosto agreed, so we went back to our rooms to get our bottles and refilled them in our buckets that were in our rooms for drinking. We met at the stables again.

Rosto said, "Ye know what, I'll go next, knives and daggers."

"Hm...alright, give me a second." I replied, pretending to look like I was adjusting my various knives and daggers, but really, I was judging Rosto. He, like Aniki, obviously knew how to do this and was good at it, but he also knew my tricks, so I'd have to work hard and I would have to fight without any tricks. Done judging him, I stepped forward.

"Ready?" Aniki asked.

Rosto complained, "Hey, I didn't get to do that."

I shrugged, hiding my smile, "Ye didna ask." He did not seem happy but accepted it, although I heard him mutter something about how mots always teamed up with other mots.

"Ready?" Aniki asked again. We nodded, and then she pulled down her hand and said, "Go!"

Rosto pulled out his dagger so quickly I could barely see it, but I pulled mine out just as fast and blocked his attack at me. I quickly returned the attack, throwing my knife at his tunic, hoping it would distract him. He placed his dagger in front of my knife and turned it into a different direction. He was very fast I noted as we circle around one another. Rosto feigned a strike at my right side, and I just barely managed to dodge the real strike at my left. Rosto attacked again, not giving me any chance to recover, by pulling out a knife with his other hand. He tried to strike a blow on my arm with the hilt of it, so my arm would be weaker, but I managed to dodge it. So that is what he's going for I thought. I drew up another blade, a knife, and held it in my left hand. We hit back and forth when finally I found an opening. Rosto had just done quite a long strike at me, so it took him longer to recover. Whilst he was doing so, I kicked out my left leg and swept it under his feet. He fell to the ground, and I pinned him to the floor, and held my knife to his throat. I was so tired I did not even say anything; I just gave him a questioning look.

"I yield." Rosto gasped, tired as well. I backed away from him slowly and then walked backwards till the wall and fell against it. He joined me there as well. Pounce jumped on my shoulder and purred.

Pounce teased, _You won, but you won using yer secret methods. Isn't that cheating?_

They are not a secret, plus yer my most powerful secret weapon. I told him without speaking. He purred again and I petted him.

Suddenly, Aniki asked me, as soon as I recovered my breath, "Beka, why are ye walking away backwards every time after a fight ends?"

"Agh Aniki, must ye plague me with these questions? Fine, so when I was getting trained when I was younger, the trainer also did this mock fight. I finally beat the person training me. I think it was in dagger and knife fighting. I was happy and he surrendered. I walked away happily, but the next thing I knew, there was a blade at my throat. He told me that ye never turn her back on her enemy. That lesson sort of stuck with me I guess." I told her, as I grabbed my knife in the wall.

She asked me curiously, "Who is he, can we meet him?"

"He is dead." I said quietly, sheathing my knife. Aniki looked sorry, but I just ignored her look and replayed the fight in my mind one more time to distract myself from those sad thoughts. I turned to Rosto and said, "Now, ye are skilled enough and were not overconfident, but, ye did not know some of the styles I knew, I noticed ye were surprised when I made ye fall that way. I am going to teach ye the different ways."

He asked vainly, "What don't I know?"

"Well fer one, ye didn't notice that I have yer knife!" I exclaimed and handed him his knife, laughing.

Rosto looked indignant once more and asked me, "What else?"

"Look it isn't like ye don't know anything. Honestly, ye could have beat 95% of the Court with that." I said to appease his vanity.

"What is different with ye an' the 5% that I wouldn't beat?" He asked.

I explained to him, "I have been doing this fer longer than ye, so I know different methods, do ye want me to teach them to ye?" He nodded, so I started. I will not write down the methods in here, for fear someone will read this and the methods will be used by someone I would prefer it wouldn't be used by, but I will say that Rosto got the hang of it pretty quickly. Once we were done, we took a quick break.

I said, after drinking my water, "Rosto, yer coming on well." I did not want to comment on Aniki's attempts.

"What about hand to hand?" Aniki asked inquisitively.

I asked her, "Are ye an' Rosto decent in that?"

"Well, after I test you here in the way of swords, I already sort of know how you are, Aniki, in daggers and knives, I will go to the Court to ask Katie about the best people in each of those categories. Then, tomorrow, I will test ye I hand to hand. I am too tired to do that today as well." I told them, brushing a bead of sweat.

Aniki teased me, "So, we managed to tire ye after only what an hour?"

I asked bluntly and truthfully, "Yes, ye two are not new at this game, yer just new to the way it is played here an' my tactics, now, Rosto, ye ready?" He nodded, so I tossed him a practice sword and grabbed one for myself.

"Get ready, go!" Aniki exclaimed. Rosto tried to hit me on the side, but I blocked and tried to strike him on the head, a good rap, but he managed to get out of the way. Rosto wasn't nearly as good as Aniki at this. The swiftness he had shown with his daggers and knives was not shown at all with the swords. A few blocks and strikes later, I had him at my mercy. I was not even winded this time.

"Now I see why you two are a good pair." I observed. Aniki was laughing straight out at Rosto's ability with a sword and Rosto looked throughly disgruntled. "Rosto, ye are good at knives and daggers, Aniki ye are good with swords, but.." I trailed off, not wanting to be rude.

Aniki asked, " But what?"

I winced and asked, " Do ye want the truth?"

Rosto said, "Yes."

"Alright, you asked for it. Aniki ye would'na survive with only knives and daggers in a fight against people that can barely hold a dagger Rosto, I've seen fourteen year olds handle a sword better than ye. " I told them bluntly.

"When I said I wanted the truth, I didn't say I wanted it bluntly." Rosto muttered.

I continued, "It is obvious that ye two depend on each other to be great at the thing that ye are terrible at, but here, ye need to be good at everything, 'cause ye won't be always together anymore, ye already know ye are employed by different chiefs, an' the people in yer groups, well some of 'em wouldn't care a copper if ye died or live, so in some situations, ye need to do the thing ye are not great at. That's why ye need to get better at yer weaknesses."

Aniki asked, " What's yer weakness?"

I bit my lip and said, "Believe it or not, swords were never my best."

"What?!" Aniki asked, shocked. Rosto looked quite startled as well.

"Yes, I remember I met a person, Maroc Smythesson, he was a solider and a great swordsman. One day, I got so frustrated, trying to handle the sword properly, that I was just about to throw the sword in the ground and forget about swords fighting when he came. He told me that there are some naturals at it, like him, others that never learned it and got killed when they needed to use it, and a few that worked to **learn** the sword, they practiced every spare second of the day and learned to be a natural at it. I wasn't a natural, not by a long shot, and I wanted to learn it: I had no plans of dying that way, so I took the third option and did it. He was a wise man. I wondered what happened to him." I mused. Then I continued, "So if I can learn to handle a sword after almost stabbing myself with it, ye can master whatever yer bad at."

Rosto applauded and said, bowing with fake courtesy, " Fine speech, my queen."

I hit him lightly on the head and said, "Ye mumper, I didna come up with the speech the fellow did, I just copied him. Now, we should go 'head and be talkin' with Katie now, I bet that she'll be at Court, after all, it's about three now."

"After ye," Aniki said, and then added grinning, "my queen."

I groaned, "Not you too!"

Aniki just grinned, so I led the way out of the stables, to the Court. We had a charming conversation on the way there, with many mentions of 'my lady' from Aniki and Rosto and many of my protests. Finally, we were there. We walked in, and I searched for Katie.

"Oy Beka, what'cha doin' here, at this time of the day?" Katie asked curiously, strolling over t' me, knowing how I usually only came to Court at night or evening.

"Well these two here need some training, and ye know more people than I do, and better, so I was hopin' ye would tell me the best people at the basics, ye know, knife and daggers, swords, and hand to hand."

She seemed to think hard about it for a while, and then answered, "Well, hand to hand was always Bold Brian's specialty, I think he is the best at that. Knife and daggers, well, so many people use them, it's hard to know who is the best, but I think if they were to take lessons with Jea, you, Beka, and I, we should have 'em shipshape in no time. As for swords, that's easy, its ye, even though ye could barely lift a sword when ye got here."

"So ye were tellin' the truth, Beka!" Aniki exclaimed in wonder.

I asked, indignant, "What, ye think I am a liar?"

Rosto explained, "It's just a bit hard to believe, I mean ye are really good right now, so the likeliness that ye used to be that bad was low."

I said, "I will take that as a compliment, now, Katie, can ye not tell anyone, 'sides Brian and maybe Jea, what I asked ye?"

"Why?" Katie asked.

"I don't want word to get out I am training them with the best, Kayfer wouldna like that at all. Hm...okay, how 'bout this, Brian can teach them in hand to hand, so ye can tell 'im, ye, Jea, and I will teach them the knife and dagger, and I can teach 'em the swords. Oh, and Rosto, once ye learn enough, ye can go up 'gainst Aniki. And Aniki, ye can go against Rosto as well, once ye learn enough. Good?" I asked. Aniki and Rosto were giving each other feral grins 'cause they would be able to beat one 'nother, so I took they agreed. It is funny, I mused, they have a strong sort of sister, brother bond, the whole competing thing. The one I used to have with Diona. Sarden brain, why do all my thoughts have to lead back to Diona and her betrayal?

Pounce jumped on my shoulder and meowed, _Now, don't get all sappy, come on, at least Will and Nilo still care for you, that's obvious from Nilo's trek to the Lower City._ I smiled. Pounce could be a pain in the neck sometimes, but he was worth it.

I turned my attention back to the present, just in time to hear Katie as she whispered in my ear, "Beka, I know ye got secrets, an' one of 'em I bet is a secret fighting method, that's probably one of the ways you've managed to survive so long, despite Kayfer's dislike of you. I don't know it, but if ye really want 'em to be the best, ye'll have to teach 'em yer ways as well." I cringed. I knew Katie was right, and I did have a secret way of fighting that I had yet to have to use, but I did not wish to teach anyone it, for fear it would get in the wrong hands.

"Um, Beka, when will we be done with this 'training'?" Aniki inquired.

I was so tempted, so incredibly tempted, to say 'when I say you are' like my master told me, but I knew that wouldn't satisfy her and she lives in my lodgings, so...anyhow, I told her sharply, "In the knife and dagger training, once ye beat Jea, Katie, and I, fer hand to hand, once ye beat Brian, fer sword, once ye beat me. Each of these times ye have to beat us, ye only have to do it once, and actually a tie will be fine as well." Katie gave me a look, and I added reluctantly, "There is something else I'll teach ye, but later, back at the lodgings, good?" Rosto and Aniki agreed to the plan. We ate a bit for lunch, and then headed back to our lodgings.

While we were walking back to our lodgings, Aniki asked, "What is this 'other training' ye were talking 'bout?"

My jaw clenched and I said grimly, "Something dangerous. I don't want to tell you 'till we get back at the lodgings."

"Come on Beka, it can't be that serious." Rosto teased.

"Yes it is." I bit my lip.

Aniki raised her hands up in surrender and said, "Alright, we'll wait till we get home." We walked in silence to the lodgings. Once we got there, I looked at them, no nonsense in my eyes and said, "You two go to the stables, I will be there soon." They obliged as I walked up the stairs.

Pounce leapt up ahead and cheered me on, _It's alright, you don't have to do this, but it's good for you, since your mother died, you have been keeping way too many secrets, it's not good for you. It's good that you've finally found people you trust enough to tell them your secrets._

I gave a slight smile. "Thanks Pounce." Pounce always knew just what to say to cheer me up. We reached my door and I opened it carefully. In I stepped, looking for a certain something. I got on my knees and pulled out the wooden chest from under my bed. I quickly grabbed my rusted keys and opened it. There it was, at the top. I grabbed it, and together, Pounce and I walked to the stables. I clenched my jaw and opened the door to the stables. It looked like Aniki and Rosto had been talking about something, but turned around once I opened the door. Their gobs dropped.

Rosto, recovering first, asked me, "Beka, whatcha doin' with a Dog's baton?"

That's right in my hands I held a smooth Dog's baton. I was a Rat holding a Dog's weapon. I took a deep breath as Pounce nudged me. "This is what you are learning. I want you to know I am going to teach you how to avoid the baton. I don't want you using this, unless ye really don't deserve to go to the cages and the Dog is drunk, or the Dog is trying to kill you with the baton."

"How'd ye get it?" Aniki asked hoarsely, still in shock.

I brushed my hand over the smoothened wood and told her. "When I was young, I was wandering about and found a brawl. The Dog was not trying to break it up; he was joining in. I was disgusted. The Dog left his baton on the side, and I picked it up and ran, so he wouldn't pick it up suddenly and pretend to be doing his job. Last I know the Dog ended up dead in the cages after hitting the wrong man. I kept the baton and trained with it. I watched the Dogs, watched their every move with the baton. Then, I used it myself. I also managed to sneak in a couple of times and watch a few of their training sessions. Soon, I was good with this thing. Good enough, that once, when a drunken bad Dog tried to kill me with it, I could counterattack every one of his moves. I knocked him unconscious. A few weeks later, he got drunk again and a fellow took care of him. Anyhow, learning these counterattack moves saved my life, and they might save yers. I will only teach ye them this one late afternoon, for it is very unlikely to ever have to use 'em. And I warn ye, if I ever catch ye using these fer the wrong reasons, I will make yer life more miserable than death itself!"

There was a long silence until Rosto broke the silence by saying, "Yer a good storyteller, ye know that?" I gave him a faint smile and got right into business. I will not write down all the details, just a lot of sweat, yelling, cursing, and curst hard work. Once we were done, I sighed in relief, glad that it was over. I knew I had done the right thing, but I was still glad to just be done, secret revealed. "Beka, " Rosto said, brushing aside a strand of his hair from his sweating face, "Thank ye for tellin' us that. I know it was hard for ye."

I smiled, even more glad that I had told them my secret and taught it to them. "Yer welcome, now," I said, moving ahead to a different subject, "I only have 'bout four more days t'force ye to do this, but do ye want t' continue this even after ye are full rushers?'

"A'course, we need it to both to keep in practice and keep our vanity in check." Aniki replied cheerily.

Rosto looked indignant, " I am not vain!" He protested.

Aniki and I burst out laughing. Even Pounce was rolling on the ground, for once letting go of his dignity. I said through my laughs, " Rosto,... If yer...Not vain...we are standing in the palace!" Even though I hadn't know him for that long, I still picked up, a lot, on his vainness. Rosto looked even more indignant at our laughing fit, which made the rest of us laugh even more. Finally, Aniki and I calmed down.

"Don't tell anyone 'bout this training session, alright?" I checked with them. They nodded, so I glanced at the clock, which read three now, and continued, "Well, now ye can take a break 'till I call ye fer rusher duties."

"Good, I'm going to take a nap now!" Aniki exclaimed now, and then she headed upstairs.

I looked at Rosto, gave him an awkward wave, and said, "Well, I am gonna be about the city, see ya." He nodded and I walked out of the stables. Then, I set about walking around the city. I was strolling down the street, observing the fruits the merchants had and noting which ones were rob-worthy, when I saw a tall man, a very familiar tall, long-armed, long-legged, man in a dog uniform with streaks of grey of grey in his hair and some bruises, probably from the recent brawl. I grinned when I realized he was walking about with a woman, a knight she seemed with the armor and trappings. Now what was Tunstall doing about with a lady knight I wondered. Goodwin won't be so happy 'bout it. She always said that we lower folk shouldn't mess about with the nobles; it just got messy. With that thought in mind, I strolled up to him.

"So Guardsman, does Guardswoman Goodwin know 'bout ye talkin' an' walkin' with a lady knight?" I asked, tapping his shoulder.

Tunstall turned around, as did the knight, and as he struggled to keep his face straight, he said, "Well, last night, Clary and I got stuck in a brawl and this lady knight helped."

Ah he was trying to avoid my true question. Eyes twinkling, I corrected him. "Nay, I wasna askin' if Goodwin knew her, I'm askin' if she knows that yer about in the city with a knight, ye know she dosn'a approve of ye messin' with nobles."

"Clary does not control me." Tunstall replied defiant.

"Oh, so my eyes must have been deceivin' me when I saw Goodwin just a week ago pulling yer ear when you tried to stop for a meal in the middle of a chase?" I questioned, my eyebrows quirked. Tunstall groaned and gave me a look.

The lady knight roared with laughter and said, "I like her Mattes, please who are ye lass?"

I decided that I liked her, she wasn't one of those nobles that wouldn't associate with us lower beings, but I gave Tunstall a curious look when I heard her calling him by his first name. I bowed and said, "I am Beka, pleased to meet you milady."

"Yer full name." Tunstall ordered.

I glared at him and muttered, "I can still tell Goodiwn 'bout this," Seeing no waver in Tunstall's expression, I said, "Rebakah Cooper, rusher of the Rogue's Court."

The lady knight grinned and said, "Well Beka, I am Lady Knight Sabine of Macayhill." We got along well. Milady Sabine loved Pounce and cooed about his shiny, black fur. She seemed a good sort, but I was a bit worried. It'd be bad for him if he decided to get this relationship past friendly. Initially, Goodwin wouldn't like that at all. Also, Goodwin was right about noble association, us lower people honestly shouldn't get into those types of relationships with nobles it just makes our job and life harder.

The clock hit 4:30, so Tunstall and I had to go, Tunstall for Watch, me for some chores t' do. I said farewell to the Knight and headed back to my lodgings. I climbed up the stairs with Pounce.

"What'cha think about Lady Knight Sabine?" I asked him.

Pounce looked thoughtful and then meowed, She seems nice. And then he meowed playfully, _Maybe I'll go and get myself adopted by her. I bet she can afford gourmet cat food and velvet cushions._

"Oh no you don't!" I exclaimed, grabbing him and holding him to my chest. "You are mine, she'll have to find a different cat." He grumbled, but I knew he like my hold and what I said, because he snuggled in closer. I let go of him and opened the door to my room. I busied myself with my chores. _You got over Diona quicker than I thought you would_ , Pounce meowed, watching me carefully. "I haven't gotten over her rejection, but I can act," I replied, folding my clothes. "I have a heart of stone, remember?" I said lightly. Pounce gave me another worried look, but I ignored it and continued with my chores. Soon, it was eight. I stood up and checked that all my knives were in place. Then, Pounce jumped on my shoulder and we went to the room next to mines to call Aniki.

"Hey Aniki, wake up come on, it's time to go on the streets!" I hollered, banging the door with my fists. Some seconds later, a drowsy Aniki showed up at the door, looking like she had just got out of bed, which was quite likely.

She grumbled and then muttered, "Alright I'll be there, just need to freshen up."

I went down the stair to call Rosto, hoping he was in his rooms, he hadn't said where he was going. Rosto appeared, in front of his door.

"I hear ye callin' Aniki, thank gods we don't have any other people lodging here, they'd be annoyed for sure!" He jested, grinning.

I blushed and asked, "You ready?"

He nodded, so we went back upstairs for Aniki. She was still getting ready, so we just stood there for a while.

"So, where are we going tonight, mistress?" He asked mischievously.

I cuffed him on the ear for the mistress playfully, and replied, " We're going visit Upmarket and Highfield District. They're both small districts, so we should be able to do them in one night."

"Are ye that eager to get rid of us?" he asked, putting on a pout.

I, laughing at his pout, said, "No, but Kayfer will want ye with his chiefs soon."

Aniki burst out of the door so on we went to the districts. I won't put down all the details down, but let's just say that we went to Upmarket and Highfield District and, like before, I taught, they learned, at least I hope they did, they asked questions, and Pounce made his usual dry remarks. Well, done with this entry!


	5. Orva

**A.N. Hello all so sorry for not updating lately but things have been rather busy. Now, I would spend some time saying sorry usually, but I have a lot of homework to do. Oh and responses to some of the few people who actually review. *cough, cough cough review, cough***

 **fleetofships1: Thanks for the support and hey, there is slight BxR in here so yay! About the Beta thing, I am not exactly sure how to get one. Heh. I tried my best to get rid of any errors here except the ones for the Lower City slang. So, yeah, thanks for reviewing!**

 **Queenmarie124** **: Thanks for also being one of the few to review. Thanks for the encouraging feedback about this concept and yes, I agree we need more fanfictions for this archive. The Beka Cooper Series is being looked over and I will not stand for that!**

 **Thanks all that followed and faved me as well. Sorry if I was being a bit pushy about the whole review thing, but it really motivates me to continue writing. Faving and following is nice too, at least I get some recognition that way, too! So anyhow, I hope you like this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer ( I forgot last chapters so this counts for that too!): I do not own any characters settings or anything else. I am just a fan.**

Beka Cooper

Rusher of Kayfers Court

Monday, April 6, 246

The nightmares came back again. This time, I couldn't remember them. All I know is that they were terrible, terrible enough for me to wake up at 3 in the morning, sweating. Pounce woke up quickly once he felt the change in my posture. He ran towards me and jumped on my bed. Pounce rubbed his head against me and purred soothingly. _What happened?_ He asked me, trying to console me. I was shaking and holding onto him tightly. I shook my head.

"I don't know Pounce, I honestly don't know," I said shakily. Pounce seemed to examine me carefully and then meowed softly, _Diona_. "No," I shook my head, "I am over Diona. She chose her path and I chose mine, and that's it, okay!" I banged my fist against the bed, angry tears threatening to spill over.

Pounce gently padded away from me and turned around, giving me a look. He sat down in front of me. _You don't sound over her_ he said softly.

"YES POUNCE, I AM OVER HER! It was foolish for me to get attached to anyone, much less someone from the higher levels. I thought I had learned my lesson before that loving only causes pain, but I didn't. This serves me right." I finished softly.

Pounce gazed at me with his wide, searching purple eyes and meowed softly, _This isn't the Beka I know._

"There was never that Beka. There was just a girl trying to pretend to be better than she truly is," I said gruffly, wiping my cheeks roughly with my hand.

 _She was there. She is there. You have just been hiding here since your mother's death. That Beka is whom I would like to speak to, the one who values her family above anything else. Now, why won't you let her show?_ Pounce meowed softly.

I looked at Pounce sadly. "She is too afraid to come out." After her betrayal, it was so much easier to just lock my heart up and play the act of heartless Beka. I never was hurt much then.

 _Well then, get her out or I will. I do have powers after all_ , Pounce said, smirking slightly. I smiled at how he was using my favorite thing to annoy him with to make me happy.

"Come 'ere," I pulled Pounce towards me and snuggled up with him, ignoring his protests. I am so glad that I have Pounce.

I fell back asleep. I woke up and did my normal daily routine **(A.N. I've already described her daily routine in previous chapters, so I'll just skip over most of the routine. Call it what you want, wanting to get to the point or being lazy XD)** After changing, I fastened several blades on me. I paused before picking up one and sitting against the wall. I held the blade gingerly, looking for a target. During my examination, I noticed a small smudge on the wall and frowned, before grinning. I pulled my arm in a perfect arc and hit the smudge in the dead center. I repeated this several time, hitting dead center every single time. Then, I heard banging on the door, and sighed, getting up off the floor.

Aniki and Kora were at the door. Aniki was wearing a simple brown shirt and light brown breeches. She had her hair up in a ponytail and her face was occupied with a grin like the Trickster's. Aniki also smelled of ….smoke? Kora was wearing a blue dress, that while pretty, had wrinkles as if it was thrown on and her brown hair was rather messy. The scowl on her face made me feel injured although it wasn't directed at me. It was directed at Aniki. Cautiously, I let the embodiments of the devil and the Trickster in, closing the door behind them.

"Hallo my dear fellows, what has got you in such a bad mood Kora?" I asked, while settling down on the floor, quite curious as to what had occured..

Kora grumbled, pushing a lock of her hair behind her hair and muttered something. Not hearing here I asked, "What?"

She gave me a glare worthy of the devil himself and said, "Aniki here thought it was so funny to wake me up at 5 o'clock in the morning today and make me change into my clothes for no other reason than just to ask me if I hated being woken up at 5 o'clock and being forced to put on clothes."

Shocked and trying to hold back a grin, I turned to Aniki who was smiling from ear to ear. Honestly, that should've tipped me off, but I was still a bit shell shocked from the idea that someone would dare wake up Kora at that time for no decent reason, despite her magic that 'acted up' when woken up early, so I asked, "Is this true Aniki?"

"Well, I got my answer, now didn't I?" Aniki replied.

"And NOW YOU KNOW WHAT MY ANSWER IS CORRECT!" Kora growled.

Aniki nodded with such an innocent expression on her face, that it made me suspicious. "You love it and you think that I should do it to you every day."

Kora looked like she was about to strangle Aniki, so I quickly cut in and said, "Please not here you guys, come on let's just eat." Kora grudgingly agreed whilst Aniki happily nodded and set out the food that she and Kora had brought for us all, probably not wanting to tip Kora over the edge.

A while later, after Kora's mood had changed for the better, a knock was heard at the door. It was Rosto. He was wearing a red vest and black trousers and was carrying a basket filled with goodies. His blond-white hair was tied back in his signature tail, his dark eyes mischievous and a smirk firmly placed on his face.

"Miss me much Beka?" he asked, leaning against the door.

"Not really, in fact it was more peaceful and pleasant before you arrived," I replied teased. Rosto placed a hand on his heart as if wounded and gasped.

"My, my, my Beka, how wounded you have made me."

Aniki barked, "Just get in here with the food and stop yer flirtin'." I stepped to the side of the door and blushed bright red. Even Rosto looked a bit embarrassed with a slight blush on his cheeks. He promptly strode in and sat down without another word. I turned to Aniki with a murderous look on my face. She simply grinned at me. Aniki is just full of mischief today. And if she doesn't watch out she may be killed by us because of it.

"Where're our Puppy friends?" Aniki asked curiously, after a while.

I replied shortly, "Court Day. They go to Court, and sit there whilst the judge decides what punishments the caged should have. The Dogs that caged people have to give a report about what happened. Extremely boring, according to Verene."

"So...what ye doin' on this very fine day?" Rosto asked, grabbing a cheese.

"Joining our Puppy friends."

"What?" Kora asked, astonished. Rosto dropped his cheese, which Pounce happily ate up.

Aniki, eyes wide, asked, "Why?"

"A street urchin told me that the Court was going to decide Orva's fate today. I helped Goodwin and Tunstall cage Orva. I want to see what they'll say, they're not allowed to lie outright by saying they caught her and won't, but they won't give me away. I trust them and they'd be in great trouble if they said the truth. They, however, can say only a few things about the true captor. Like when Goodwin said I was her relative, that is technically true, for everyone is related in some way." I told them, spreading butter on my bread.

Kora commented, "Helping the Dogs sure does create a mess."

I bit into my bread. "True, but, it's usually worth it. My backup plan is to hire someone to 'fess up for me."

The rest of our breakfast carried on normally, at least, until the cleaning up happened. They all stayed back to supposedly help me clean up. I waited, suspicious. I felt like they wanted to ask me something.

"Beka, can I go with you?" Aniki asked suddenly.

Rosto added, " Can I go to?"

Kora sighed and said, " Well, if those two are going, I'll be bored, can I go?"

"Why? Not from Kora, she already told me, but why for ye two?" I asked, not very much surprised, I actually half expected this.

"Well..." Aniki started, and then looked at Rosto.

Rosto finished for her, "In case we ever get in that situation and-"

"Now, " I cut him off, "I don't ever want ye two in that Court alright? It's stupid to even get caught stealing, but even more stupid if it's that big that ye need to get a punishment judged by the Court fer doing so."

Rosto exasperatedly inhaled and exclaimed, "Let me finish! Ye gods woman! And, it's good anyway to understand both sides of the law."

I looked to Pounce, wondering what his position in this was. He shrugged and spoke. _If they want to go, they can. It would be good training. Anyway, you'd better decide quickly, remember Orva is being shown to the Magistrate around 3:00, but the gates are closing at 10:00, and it's already 9:30._

I didn't ask him how he remembered what that street urchin said yesterday, he's just smart like that. Meanwhile, Rosto, Aniki, and Kora waited for me to speak. I thought about it, and spoke lightly. " Sure, no harm, just bring something to cover your hair, something to occupy yourself, these things get dull, and don't look at any of the Guards straight in their glims."

They agreed and went to their rooms to go get their things. I looked into my closet for my cap and pulled it out. I quickly pushed my braid into it. Then, I looked in the mirror. It didn't seem quite right. " What do ye think Pounce?" I asked him.

Pounce huffed and spoke. _Well I am not an expert at this type of thing, but maybe you should bind your chest. Even the Guards that have seen you the most won't recognize you as a boy, and if they do, they may assume that you are your cousin. No one will think it's you, unless you tell them some way. Still, you should not look them in the face unless you want them it recognize you._

I grinned at him and said, looking for a roll of bandage, "Thanks. Apparently you ARE an expert." He looked the other way. He said something that sounded like impertinent humans these days. I grinned even wider and grabbed my roll of bandages. I took of my tunic and wrapped the bandage around me. I cut it and tied the bandages. I pulled on a more 'manly' shirt, before considering a mustache, then deciding not to. This was just supposed to be a simple costume, nothing elaborate. Plus, not all coves had mustaches. I looked at myself in the mirror once more. Perfect, though my eyes would give me away if I looked at anyone directly, and my friends might recognize me. I adjusted a few more things and was ready. I also grabbed this journal to bring and a book. I put them all in a small sack, 'sides this journal. The Guards at the Gate would only glimpse at bag's shape to see I wasn't carrying any bombs, and then I'd be able to go. Satisfied, I petted Pounce, waiting for the others to show up.

Pounce purred, smiling, _I can't wait to see the looks on their faces once they see you._

"What do you mean?" I asked him suspiciously. Ever since I found out that Pounce had known about the lodging situation, I was cautious of his mysterious sayings.

 _Just saying_ , he purred, snuggling closer so I could get the place he loved being scratched.

I gave up trying to get the truth out of him, and just scratched him, waiting. That's what I am doing now. Hold on, there's a knock at the door. I guess I didn't have it wait long.

At Court

I am resuming the accounts of a thirty minutes ago. I opened the door and Kora and Rosto barged through. They froze, gobs open. Pounce was laughing his cat laugh hard. Aniki was a few steps behind them apparently.

"Hey you two, come on move, I mean- wha?" She stuttered, when she saw me. Pounce was practically rolling on the ground with laughter now.

I asked innocently, "What?"

"You are- you are dressed up as a- " Kora stuttered. I think Pounce could have exploded, he was laughing so hard. I gave him a look and returned my gaze to the three at my door. Kora recovered from the shock and asked, "Why are you dressed as a cove?"

I replied simply, " You three just recently came into town, not many people know your faces. Me, I've been here my whole life. I need a more...thorough disguise. No one would think that a cove in the audience would be me."

"Yer full of surprises, aren't ye, love? Though I must say, I prefer ye as a mot." Rosto said finally, grinning. I shrugged, trying to hide my blush, as they all recovered from the shock.

I inspected them and asked, "Ye got entertainment? Good job with the head coverings." Kora was wearing a bandanna, covering her hair. Aniki was wearing a cap. Rosto was also wearing a cap. They nodded. Kora held up knitting needles, Aniki brought a stone to sharpen her daggers and sword. Rosto had a notebook.

Seeing my confused look, he explained. "For notes." I was surprised, Rosto didn't seem like the notes type, but I guess I have only known him for a few days. We headed out, avoiding the Court Dogs' searching and sharp eyes. Luckily, Pounce didn't suddenly decide to defy me as he had done before, and he didn't look straight at them, keeping his purple eyes out of sight. They let him in, there were no rules against cats as long as they were comfortable in a room full of shouting people and Dogs and Puppies, and as I had predicted, they only give my bag a glance, before letting us in. We slipped into the audience side, the one with the bars in front of it. We took our seat, Kora next to Aniki, Aniki next to Rosto, Rosto next to me, me next to the edge.

I saw Ersken on the Dog side, but I couldn't find Verene or Phelan. Ersken was looking quite bored. He was looking at the crowd dazedly, trying to occupy himself. When I saw him looking our way suspiciously, not wanting to cause commotion, I tipped my cap to him and took it off with style, grinning at him. He looked at me with disbelieving eyes, rubbed them, and looked at me again. Then he examined the people around me. His eyes widened, recognizing the figures near me. Figuring he wanted to know why we were here, I strolled it the door where Dogs, if they wanted to, could come through. He asked permission quickly, and then walked towards the door, into the audience.

"What are you doing here?!" He hissed.

I replied softly, so no one else would hear, "I helped cage a woman, Orva Ashmiller, I need to know what happens to her, and if I need to hire a person to pretend that they had helped."

Ersken sighed and said, "Alright, I'll tell Goodwin and Tunstall," he added, cutting off my protest, "My Dogs will want to know why I came back here, I can tell Goodwin and Tusntall and they can defend me." I sighed and agreed. Then, we swiftly walked back to w-%* Excuse me there, Rosto tried to read my journal, I had to take care of him. Anyhow, we went swiftly walked back to where we were before.

"What was that about?" Rosto asked me softly in my ear, as I settled back into my seat.

Trying to ignore the shiver that was caused by his close proximity, I replied, quietly, "Had to explain to Ersken why I was here, he's going to tell Goodwin and Tunstall." Right then, Goodwin looked all casual like back at the audience. Her eyes narrowed in on me like a panther on a deer. I gulped. It was amazing how she could intimidate me and let me know it was I she was angry at, yet still seem to everyone else that she was just bored. Tunstall looked back as well, all casual like. His owl eyes spotted me immediately. Unlike Goodwin, he grinned and gently nudged her to turn her gaze away from me. She obliged, but gave me one last glare to tell me that this wasn't over. I gulped again. "I am so dead." I whispered.

"Yes you are love, yes you are," Rosto said, grinning. I glared at him, and turned my attention back to Goodwin and Tunstall. They were looking away, so I decided that it was safe to turn my attention back to my journal and started writing this. I wonder what I'll do now, this is taking forever, at least it's almost three- Rosto just spoke to me as I was writing this.

"What have you been scribbling in all day?" Rosto asked curiously.

I explained, "This is my journal. It's supposed to keep my memory sharp, and I have a feeling that there's going to be a lot of excitement around here. This should help me by letting me write down notes of the events."

His eyes twinkled. "So it's a journal, is it one of those ones where you write down all your personal thoughts?"

"Maybe," I answered suspiciously. He looked down my journal with more interest than before and grinned. I think now I need to get a charm on my journal so that only I can open it, and I should hide it. Just a precaution.

Later on Court Day

I feel sick thinking about this. A while after I wrote my last entry, they brought Orva up. She was a pitiful sight, with the cage muck covering her. She was so thin that the shackles around her wrist, which I puzzled over, why would someone as weak as Orva was now need shackles, seemed like they could just drop off. Soon I knew why she had the shackles.

"Where is that bitch!" She yelled. Orva had caught the Cage Dogs holding her not paying attention and flung herself near Goodwin and Tunstall. "Where is that she devil that turned my man against me and took me away from my little ones?! Where is she?! I'll cut out her heart! She ruined my life! The poxied leech! Trollop, trull!" The mothers in the audience covered the children's listening holes. The Dogs that had let her go came back to their senses and grabbed Orva back, pulling her away from Goodwin and Tunstall. The part of the crowd that had come here for entertainment whistled and shouted. I winced. Kora and the rest of them looked up from watching Orva and glanced sympathetically at me.

Perfect, just perfect. Orva blames me for the mess he got herself into. Suddenly, I froze in fear, did she know what I looked like? Her children had recognized me, but I guess they hadn't had hot blood wine. I'd be in big trouble if she saw my eyes, no one else had eyes like mine.

Almost like she was answering me, Orva screamed, "That trollop is lucky I couldn't get a clear look at her face, oh yes the lucky bitch!" I sighed in relief. The relief was short come.

"Mama!"

I shut my eyes tight, regretting my decision to come here. I opened them hesitantly to see Master Ashmiller with his three little ones. What was he thinking?! No child would like to see their Ma in this state! The herald, in vain, tried to silence everyone. Finally, Sir Tullus, the Magistrate, ordered for Orva to be gagged and the hysterical children to be taken out of Court. I relaxed a bit. The herald announced Orva and stated her charges.

"Struck a Guard? Report." Sir Tullus scowled.

Tunstall stood up and gave the beginning of the report. I felt a lump in my throat and tried to swallow. What was he going to say for the end? Kora gave me a reassuring wink, but as I gave here a small smile, I still couldn't quench my nervousness.

"Well, go on, I assume that you captured her outside." Sir Tullus said once Tunstall paused.

Tunstall rubbed his beard and told him, "A relative of Goodwin's, a mot, burst through the door then, and chased her from Mulberry Way to a Spindle Lane, which is just a short walk from North Gate. She caught Mistress Ashmiller, and brought her back to the Jane Street Station. Goodwin and I arrested her officially there."

Sir Tullus looked surprised. " Why would she chase after Mistress Ashmiller with such vigilance, from Mulberry Way to North Gate? Why, she isn't even a Guard!"

At that, I felt Rosto's, Aniki's, and Kora's eyes on me. They wanted to know this as well, because I had not given a good reason for doing it. Tunstall swallowed and looked stumped. Goodwin stood up and put her hand on his shoulder, gesturing for him to sit down. Tunstall obliged. Goodwin cleared her throat. "She is very righteous, always has has been."

Sir Tullus exclaimed. " Why that sounds like a fine student, one that is that devoted. She should sign up to be a Guard then, we would welcome her!"

"She has no wish to become a Guard now."

Sir Tullus sighed. "That's a shame. This relative of yours sounds promising. Anyhow, you may be seated. Thank you. Now, Mistress Ashmiller, do you have an advocate?"

Goodwin sat down. Aniki and Kora seemed relieved for me that Sir Tullus had accepted Goodwin's answer, but Rosto's eyes seemed rather inquisitive and I could feel them boring into my back. I didn't turn around. The crowd was silent. I could tell they were trying to find out who this mystery mot was. "She does not." The Provost Advocate stated. "Jack Ashmiller, her husband, pleas for the mercy of this court. He asks for fines or work and imprisonment inside the city. I have also gathered the complaints of Mistress Ashmiller's neighbors. They say that she has repeatedly given her husband and children bleeding injuries, bruises, and broken bones. The ask that Mistress Ashmiller receives a sentence to prison or exiled from Corus." The herald handed Sir Tullus some papers. Sir Tullus read over them, and then looked at her, disgust on his face.

He cleared his throat and announced, "Orva Ashmiller, it is the judgement of the court that you go to the royal work farm in the town of Whitethorn. You will labor there for five years for disturbing your neighbor's peace, for violence to your family, and for the crime of wielding a blade against a representative of the King's Peace. Should you try to escape from the farm and return to Corus, you will be branded and sold into slavery." He struck the bronze sun disk in the table with his polished granite ball, the sign judgment has been made. The Guard pulled the struggling Orva back into the Cages for transport. I thought that seeing justice payed would make me feel happy, or at least satisfied. All I felt was sadness, sadness for her husband, sadness for her little ones, and for her, because even though she was bad to do what she did, her judgement was not a happy one. I also felt regret that troubled my heart.

Once the judgement was done, we walked out of Court. We were walking back home when a thought came to me and I then asked, rather stiffly "Ye want t' practice now, we can work on yer strengths and weaknesses?"

Aniki and Rosto nodded, and Kora asked tentatively, "Beka, can I join in?"

I teased her, "So, what was all that' I'm an innocent washerwoman ' act?"

I turned on Aniki and Rosto. I accused them, "Ye knew this didn't ye?"

Aniki smiled as Rosto shrugged. "Guilty as charged." He admitted.

"Why didn't ye join in with Rosto and Aniki?" I asked curiously.

Kora smiled and said, " I wanted to find out what a rusher's position in Corus was first."

That makes sense, some weren't not as...eager as Rosto and Aniki to join to the Court of the Rogue. "Alright, but why do ye want t' join in on weapon practice, unless I am mistaken, ye'll want t' be a rogue mage, not a rusher."

Kora shrugged shyly and said, "Self-defense."

I thought about it, and then agreed, "Alright, but I won't go into too much depth with ye, ye know, 'cause it's just fer defense. We'll practice in the stables again." She nodded, so I dismissed them, telling them to get their weapons. I grabbed the same weapons as before, and headed down to the stablest itch Pounce. Kora and AnIke were already there. "Why is it always the coves that take so long?" I asked in mild exasperation. Aniki and Pounce smirked as Kora tried to hide a smile. We did some quick stretches and waited for about a minute. Rosto appeared.

"I am sorry for taking so long and taking more time away from you getting see all this" Rosto said, arrogantly, strolling in. I rolled my eyes, and thought about what to do.

"Aniki, Rosto, " I called. " Ye two will do hand fighting with each other, but..." I trailed off. Then, remembering something, I continued, " You can do some more stretches and get ready, I need to get something fer Kora, and then ye two can start."

They nodded, so I ran upstairs into my room, Pounce following. I opened my door and walked in. Pounce jumped on to my bed while I looked around. He meowed leisurely, _You are going to get that book about magic attacks and defenses Will gave you last year aren't you?_

"Yes," I replied, used to him practically reading my mind and looked in drawers and in my cabinet, " Now if only I could remember where I put the sarden thing!"

Pounce stated, _Well, I believe you put it under your bed._ I checked where he said, and seeing an old, worn red book, I pulled it out, grabbed Pounce, and kissed him on his head ( to which he protested strongly ).

"Good ca- I mean god," I teased him. He sniffed and muttered something about not being a god and him having too much common sense to be a god. I grinned and we walked back to the stables. Aniki and Rosto were getting ready while Kora was leaning against the wall. "Kora, catch!" I told her, tossing her the book. She straightened and caught it. Then she took a look at the cover.

"Magical Attack and Defense Spells, Royal Edition!" She exclaimed, looking at me in amazement. Aniki and Rosto paused to see what Kora was squealing about. "How did you get a Royal Edition?!" She asked, reverently cradling the book.

I grinned and told her, "I know someone that got this for a gift and he gave it to me, he said he didna have the Gift, so this would'na help him a bit. I took it, figuring that I might have use of it one day. Turns out I was right."

Aniki laughed and said, "What did I tell ye! You have connections that can get royal things as presents, so ye have connections that know nobles." I blushed and then turned back to Kora, who was still looking at the book in awe.

"You can keep it ye know? I have no need of it. Mind ye, it's last years. Royal Edition usually has almost all the spells known, 'cept a few that commoners like us created and keep a secret, so it has a pretty wide range."

Kora squealed, "Thanks!" and hugged the book. I chuckled. Then Kora said suspiciously, "If you think this will satisfy me, then you are mistaken, I still want to learn some of the normal ways for self defense."

Laughing, I replied, " Dont'cha worry, I'll teach ye after I watch this mock fight." She nodded, so I turned back to Rosto and Aniki. "Well, ye ready?" I asked. They nodded, so I said, "Ready...Set...Go!" They started their mock fight. I corrected them a bit and helped them to get better, but altogether, they were pretty good at it. Aniki, surprisingly, won. I thought Rosto would, but I guess not. I congratulated her and helped Rosto up. Then, I worked with Kora and told them to take a break. It continued like that, alternating between helping Rosto and Aniki, and going back to Kora. By the time we were done, it was six after noon.

"We're done?" Kora asked.

"We better be done, " Aniki replied, groaning, probably from the pain in her bruises, "Or I am going to revolt."

Rosto stretched and teased, "I don't know...I'm not really tired, mayhap we could continue?"

Aniki glared daggers at him and growled, "You can continue, you looby, but I am leaving."

I grinned and said, "Yup, we are done, gotta take a quick break afore ye, Rosto, and I are goin' on rusher duty.Kora...?"

"I am going to join in some other day." She said, walking to her rooms

I shrugged and turned to Aniki and Rosto. "I'll be at yer door at seven o clock sharp, be ready then." Then, I jogged up to my rooms with Pounce. I am writing my journal now. I will probably go visit the dustspinners soon and hopefully get some information on the Shadow Snake. Anyhow, Rosto and Aniki are turning out quite fine, hope they'll be the ones. I wonder if they'd, no never mind. Foolish thought.

 **A.N: Sorry, I had to split this day into two chapters, couldn't do it all. This chapter may have just seemed like a fill in but it took care of a few things I wanted to get across and trust me, next chapter is going to have much more action.**


	6. Teaching

**A.N. Don't kill me! I am sorry for not updating in such a long time, and I have no excuse except laziness and the Internet distracting me in my free time. I would spend more time groveling, but I actually have work to do, so no. Anyway, this is the continuation of the last chapter. I hope that this is a good chapter, and if you see things I can improve, please comment! By the way, if anyone wants to be my Beta and is willing to tell me how to make you my Beta, please tell me in the comments or PM me. I do try to have correct grammar, but things slip me by, so it'd be great to have a Beta. Also, I am trying Grammarly (the free version), so tell me if this is better! Thanks to everyone who acknowledged my fanfiction by reviewing, favoriting, and other things that I can't remember. Still, though, thanks! Additionally, if anyone has an idea for a good name for this chapter, please tell me! Now, I am sure you want to actually read the chapter that I am like three or four months late on, so without further ado, here is chapter 6.**

Beka Cooper

Rusher of Kayfer's Court

Continuation of the events on Monday, April 6, 246

"Aniki, Rosto, come on we have to go now!" I yelled for the tenth time, staring frustratedly at Aniki's door in front of me while listening carefully so I would know when Rosto got out of his room. It was about seven at night by now. Before this, I had done all my chores, but I had not had the chance to check with the pigeons or dust spinners. That was the main reason why I was frustrated. Sure, I was annoyed at Aniki and Rosto for taking their own sweet time to get their butts out the door, but I try to not get worked up about small things like those. However, I was extremely frustrated with the fact that I still had not gotten any other information about the Shadow Snake. Who knows, maybe yet another child was being kidnapped right this second, and here I was, standing outside Aniki's door. Actually, I think I am a bit aggravated from how taking they were taking to get ready. I already had all of my weapons on carefully attached.

Narrowing my eyes with thoughts of the most painful ways to end Aniki and Rosto for taking so long in my head, I tried once more, "Aniki and Rosto, I swear to the Great Mother Goddess that if you so much as take a minute longer, I will break your doors down!"

"Well, someone is very worked up," a voice commented behind me. Surprised, I spun around with two daggers in my hand. I relaxed as I saw that it was just Rosto. He had a surprised look on his face, probably from the daggers, before placing a cocky smirk on his face. "You didn't hear me, eh?" he said, playfully nudging me.

I frowned, still annoyed. "Well, I was a bit busy screaming at Aniki and y- well I guess just Aniki now, " I corrected myself.

Rosto shook his head and grinning, said, "Love, you really need to calm down, we are just patrolling for practice. It's not like Kayfer is watching our every step to make sure that we leave on time." That just made me worry more. I hadn't thought of it until Rosto mentioned it, but there was a very likely chance that Kayfer did have people watching us this very minute. At that thought, I quickly looked around for watchers.

"Beka, you were first yelling for me to get out, and now you're ignoring me. Make up your mind!" Aniki teased me, leaning against her door.

I shook my head, "You people are going to be the death of me, " I muttered. Trying to pretend that I didn't see the overly bright grins on both Aniki's and Rosto's face, I lead them out of the house.

I addressed them in my serious voice, " I decided that ye can figure out your district by yerselves, so today, you two are going to learn how to converse with people in the city."

Rosto replied, "Beka, I know we are new, but I think we can speak Tortallan."

"Not like that." Seeing their puzzled faces, I sighed and said, "I'll show you."

We walked for a bit until we reached a bar. I stepped in there and motioned for Aniki and Rosto to follow. Hesitantly, they walked in. I spotted my target, a young, angry-looking man, and strolled over to the actual bar itself and sat down. Acting as if I was sullen, I grumpily asked the bartender for a dozen of beers loudly. Before he could walk off, though, I quickly slipped him a paper. He looked at the paper and then me. I nodded, and then he walked off to go make the 'beer'.

I was suddenly spun around, and Rosto, who apparently was the one to spin me, said, "Beka, are ye crazy? Twelve beers?!"

"Shh, you'll blow my cover," I said and checked to make sure that no one had heard him. I saw that he was about to say something and quickly cut him off, "I actually got a mixture of water and some juice that looks like beer to help me show ye and Aniki how to talk to people down here. Now, hush." Rosto looked flabbergasted (Heh, I like that word!), luckily he complied, striding back to Aniki, who was still by the entrance of the bar, with an aggravated look on his face. Aniki winked at me and smiled. I gave her a quick smile back before looking away and continuing my little play.

When the bartender got the 'beer', I gulped all of them down. I turned to him and snarled, "More." The bartender gulped and walked away. My target looked over at me and spoke.

"Bad day?" he asked nodding towards the empty glasses.

I nodded and said in a fake slurred tone, "Yeah, what 'bout you?"

The young man frowned and complained in a slightly slurred tone that was obviously not fake, "I got a bad situation on my hands. Curst life is so hard. Why can't I just have one, just one good day?" He leaned towards me, really close, and I stopped myself from flinching from his bad breath. Instead, I turned towards the barkeeper. He once again gave me a dozen, and I drank one of them

Bracing myself, I turned back towards my target and asked, pretending to be drunk, "Yeah, what's" I faked a burp, "wroong?" I topped it off with what looked like a tipsy smile.

He paused, probably wondering whether to tell me, before realizing that because I was as drunk as I seemed to be, I wouldn't remember a single thing about tonight. While I was drinking the second mixture, the young man said, "My daughter is gone, stolen and killed by the Shadow Snake, ye heard of it?"

I had to force myself to not spit out the drink I had just swallowed. I answered, "I heard of it. It stole my friend's child. I don't exactly know what happened, though. My friend wouldn't tell. I think she is traumatized."

The young man sighed and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if she was. My condolences for yer friend." It was a shame; he seemed like a nice cove, one that I was not pleased to have to trick. My target continued, "Well if ye want t' know, I can tell you how it was for me." I had to stop myself from nodding eagerly, and instead, I gave him one quick nod.

The young man sighed again and continued, "It was just a few days ago that I lost her. I was out, doing my job as a bakers man while my wife, Leanne, was doing the laundry. My, my daughter," he choked up. I patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"Thank you. Sorry about that, the wounds are just so fresh. My daughter, she was only 7. She wanted to go play around her friend's house. Leanne agreed, and off she was, our little girl. Her friends said that Lilly, that's our daughter's name, walked to one of the main streets, where all the stalls are. They said that she said that she wanted to way through their adventure, her friends suddenly couldn't find her. They looked for her over and over they said." The young man said bitterly. "They could have done better. Then, Lilly's friends came over to our house, and they told Leanne. She told me. We went crazy until we found the Shadow Snake's note. It said We have your child and if you don't place your locket made out of rubies by Mithros's temple by tomorrow night, she will be gone forever. The locket was my wife's prized locket from her grandmother, but she would gladly give it over. However, we could not find it. We looked and looked and looked. It was nowhere. The due date came, and that was yesterday. We found her this morning, stabbed repeatedly. Her dress was red with blood, and the light, the life in her eyes were gone. She is dead. DEAD!" The man screamed in agony.

"I am sorry for your loss; no one deserves that fate," I said, rubbing his shoulder comfortingly.

He looked at me and gave me a small smile. "Thank you. Ye are a good soul to listen to that, to care about that."

I smiled a bit back, and I told him to be careful because he still had his wife, before leaving him alone to possibly recover just a bit. "Not good enough, " I muttered a good distance away from him.

"Well that was quite a story, " Rosto drawled. Aniki was beside him.

I looked at him, wide-eyed. I didn't know that they had been listening.

"You did tell us to observe," Aniki reminded me.

"Yes, I did. Anyway, you two should probably give it a try now," I said, trying to change the subject. They looked at me suspiciously, but they complied. Aniki walked towards a young mot who was in a corner while Rosto strolled up to an older cove who was drinking away his sorrows. I let them both settle in, and then I eavesdropped on Aniki's conversation, leaning against the wall next to them casually.

Aniki was talking, "...have you heard about the Shadow Snake?" I frowned. I don't believe that I asked them to question their targets about that subject, so what was Aniki doing.

That thought was soon chased out of my head when the mot started talking in a tiny, shaky voice that occasionally stuttered, " T-the Shadow Snake took my child. Sweet boy, he was, and then he just disappeared. I got the note and gave the Shadow Snake the spell book it needed, and thankfully got my baby back, but I was not satisfied. He was a mere boy, and the Shadow Snake had the nerve to kidnap him. I tried to spread the word, so people would take the Shadow Snake seriously, but no one listened. Th-they called me crazy. Crazy and insane for believing in the Shadow Snake they said. No one would kidnap their children they said. They wouldn't lose their children they said. You know what happened. Three of them got their children kidnapped. They didn't pay the price, and the sweet little things all met the Black God. Those children were innocent; they didn't do anything wrong, and I know because I knew them in life. It just isn't right! Why should they meet the Black God? WHY?" The mot was screaming by now, and people were giving her weird looks. The mot started breaking down, and Aniki comforted her gently.

I listlessly went over to where Rosto was the eavesdrop his conversation, and I heard the cove say in a rough voice, "All right boy, I suppose you've shown that you ain't a stinkin' Dog, so I'll tell ye my story. " At first, I was offended by his opinion of Dogs, but then I remembered something and cringed. The cove was right. He continued, "I had myself a boy. My wife and I were thrilled, so thrilled, but then one day, the boy was gone. Aye, I got the Shadow Snake darn little note that gave me a deadline of two days for a very prized piece of jewelry that my wife had worn only a few times. The last time she wore it was to the market, and she got such an audience. However, my wife would've gladly given it over, but I didn't listen to the note because I'm a cracknob. I valued my pride over the possibility of my son's life. I told the Dogs, thinking everything would be solved then. They ridiculed me, so did everyone else I asked. My wife was by now begging just give over the necklace, but I still didn't listen. For that, I paid. I woke up on the deadline day to see my son dead and drowned in a pool of his own blood. I could've saved him, but I didn't. That's how I ended up at this bar, drinking. Son, " the man said, turning to Rosto, "Please live in the moment. Value the things you love. You never know when they'll be go-" the cove choked up, unable to continue his sentence.

I went back near the door to absorb all this information, wanting to have Pounce for some sort of comfort. Strangely, though, Pounce wasn't here with us. He said that he needed to 'take care of something'. I turned my mind from those thoughts and back to the Shadow Snake. Soon, both Rosto and Aniki were done with their conversation and we walked out for a few yards. I then spoke. "Why were both of your conversations having to do with the Shadow Snake?" I asked them suspiciously.

Aniki looked down sheepishly, whereas Rosto answered me with a straight face, "You needed help with this Shadow Snake situation. Aniki and I are not dumb, love, we noticed how badly you wanted to find the Shadow Snake, and so we decided to help you."

I asked Aniki, "Is this true?"

"Yeah, we just wanted to help you Beka."

"Are you sure you want to help me?"

"Yes."

I then stopped and turned into an alley, trying to hide my shock. No one had ever wanted to help me for reasons such as theirs'. Looking at them, I pushed my doubt to the side and said, "Alright then. Here's what I know…." I told them what I heard, and I asked about what they heard. From what I got, I hadn't missed much. After this talk, I was frowning.

Rosto asked me, "What's with the sad face love?"

"From what I heard and what ye two told me, more children have died than have not, and that is not good. Not many people seem to take the Shadow Snake seriously. Also, this case seems to be a hard one. The Dogs have been away from it, and there is not much information about it. Not one of the folks we talked to had a lead on the Shadow Snake. Not a single one. That all together is very troubling, " I said, rubbing my forehead with my hand in frustration.

Once I had pointed everything out, Aniki and Rosto looked worried as well, but Rosto broke the tension by saying, "Well, we will need our rest to figure this out then."

Aniki and I nodded in agreement, and so we all walked back to our lodgings. "Goodnight," I whispered to Aniki and Rosto. Aniki and Rosto said, "Goodnight." I walked up to my room and realized that it was 1 in the morning. I took my chances and grabbed some bread, tearing it into pieces and throwing it on the floor. After 5 minutes, no bird arrived, as I expected. Sighing, I was about to close the window when a single pigeon flew in. No other birds followed, which was strange because when one pale white pigeon found some food, others close to always came. Despite my suspicions, I sat there and tried to listen to the pigeon. This one did have a ghost.

 _The Shadow Snake will eat you if you don't finish your food, including your vegetables, that what you said, Mama. I ate my food, but a person who called himself the Shadow Snake got me. Why did it still get me, was I a bad girl?_ The ghost said softly. It flew off into the night sky without another word. I shut the window, took off my boots, and slid into bed, suddenly feeling very, very cold. I saw a black figure near my door, and I looked at it. The figure stepped closer to me, revealing himself as Pounce. Sighing in relief, I snuggled back into bed. The last thing I can recall about yesterday before I drifted into sleep were the words, _Please save them, and don't let your bitterness cloud your mind._

After that, I drifted into a deep sleep.


	7. Mutt Piddle Lane

**A.N. /Rant Starting/ I know that this may seem a bit OC (Out of Character) for Beka, but honestly, she's had a way different life in this fanfiction than in the real book, so her personality is different. Also, in the books, Beka seemed pretty stiff and formal with her book at times. She didn't put down her thoughts much, so I want to change that. Before anyone tries to defend Tamora Pierce's writing skills, there is no reason to. I am not saying is a bad writer, far from it. It's just that, she admitted herself, she prefers the third person. When you prefer something, it usually means that you are really good at it, and she is! said herself " I've written short stories in the first person, but you have so much more control writing in the third person. The third person, you know what everybody's thinking. The first person is very limiting, and I could never sustain a first person novel before."The book, Terrier by Tamora Pierce, therefore, might've been hard for her. Although I definitely can't do better, I want to give a shot to make this more the way I perceive first person books should be like, so Beka's character may seem a lot more different in this fanfiction than in the books, but I really am just trying to delve deeper and think about how I think she would react to certain things. If you don't like that, it's your opinion, and you can stop reading this. My formatting will also be slightly different. /Rant Over/ Anyway, for those of you that stayed, please review/ favorite/ follow! I want to thank anyone who did that, so thank you! This was quite the A.N, but I hope that this will clear things up for you all if you get confused about Beka's personality in this chapter. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

Beka Cooper

Rusher of Kayfer's Court

Tuesday, April 7, 246

I woke up nice and early today. Luckily, no pigeon, or cat woke me up this time. However, my mind was very distracted from last night. What did Pounce mean by ' _Please save them, and don't let your bitterness cloud your mind,_ ' ? What bitterness was he talking about, and who was I supposed to save? Since Pounce was strangely absent for my early morning, which bothered and worried me, I couldn't ask him what he meant. Also, lately, he hasn't been around me much; for most of last night, he wasn't there, and now he wasn't here in the morning. However, I shook my troubling thoughts out of my head and continued my morning routine.

Once I was all ready for the day, I sat down on my bed, thinking. I should visit Will, Nilo, Lorine, an- no, maybe I should just visit Will, Nilo, and Lorine. I started pacing then as thoughts rushed through my head. Maybe I should just visit Will and Nilo. Perhaps I could simply visit Nilo, or maybe I could leave a note there. No, I was being a coward. I'll just go and meet Will, Nilo, Lorine, an- and that one horse I really liked! Not being able to summon up the courage to just plan to go and meet them, I threw myself on my bed and groaned. Whoever I was meeting or not meeting, I need to go there sometime, I decided. Next Sunday seems like a good time to meet my siblings.

With that all settled, I set my mind onto the Shadow Snake issue, and I started casually throwing knives at my usual target. What should I do next? I had no leads, so I had to start from scratch. I needed to find the similarities between each situation in which a child was kidnapped from the Shadow Snake. Maybe I could use a map. I also needed to talk to some more people and investigate more about the Shadow Snake. _What about Rosto and Aniki?_ a voice asked. I looked around the room frantically, startled, but then I saw that it was just Pounce, so I relaxed before I thought about what he said.

"What do you mean, what about Rosto and Aniki?" I asked, confused. Pounce gave me an exasperated sigh.

 _Must I explain everything? It is pretty obvious from their actions that they want to help you with this case, so are you going to let them help you and include them in your grand plans?_ I was about to ask him how he knew that, but I held my tongue. He would probably say something about being a supernatural being or something like he usually does.

"I don't know, Pounce. I mean what if they betray me or something?"

Pounce said sternly, _You know yourself that they will be loyal to you, so stop making these excuses and get over your trust issues!_

I glared at him, "I do not have trust issues."

 _Oh sure, you totally do not have trust issues. That's why when Katie simply offered to help you carry things to your lodgings last Thursday, you rejected her like she offered to punch you and ran away from her so quickly that she was spinning,_ Pounce deadpanned.

I grunted, thoroughly annoyed and not sure of what to say. Triumphant, Pounce smugly smiled at me and jumped off my bed to go and clean himself by my window. As if that was a signal of some sorts, Kora and Ersken suddenly burst in. Barely glancing at them, I smelled the air and asked, "Where's the food?"

Ersken chuckled whereas Kora gave me a pretend upset look and said, "That's the first thing you ask me? 'Where is the food?', no hello or how do you do?"

"Yes, that's the first thing that I asked you. I am hungry. Now, where is it?" I asked bluntly. This time, Kora looked seriously annoyed, whereas Ersken just laughed at the expression on Kora's face.

Ersken explained to Kora, "When Beka gets hungry, she is very rude and blunt. When you meet her, she seems shy, but her true colors are revealed at these types of moments."

Kora still seemed a bit aggravated, but she nodded and told me, "Aniki has the food. I saw Rosto getting some food as well." I nodded, satisfied, and then, I turned to my window to open it for the pigeons. What Ersken said was only partly true, because yes, I was being very rude and blunt, and I hadn't eaten dinner last night, but mostly, I was being like that due to the fact that I was getting comfortable with Kora. I was actually comfortable with Rosto, Kora, and Aniki! I cringed at that thought; I wasn't supposed to get friendly with them! I was just supposed to get Rosto on the throne, not get attached to him or his friends! _See, you do trust them; now ask them to help you!_ Pounce meowed from my bed. I glared at him and replied, _Later_. He narrowed his eyes at me, probably not believing me, which is wise of him because I had no plans of ever asking them to help me, and he strolled over to Kora, who lavished him with soothing strokes.

Shaking my head in annoyance at his actions, I muttered, "Sarden cat." Deciding to put my mind to more useful things than cursing Pounce, I opened the window, and I grabbed a loaf of dry bread from my desk. I sat back down with Kora and Ersken, planning to ask Kora when exactly Aniki was going to come, when Aniki burst in through the door. I was about to comment on her lack of manners before the smell of pastries hit my nose.

"You are my favorite," I proclaimed, snatching the pastries from her hands and sitting back down. Aniki looked lost for a moment at my quick actions.

Then, she grinned and said, "Why, thank you. Although I would like it if I was your favorite without needing to get you food."

Meanwhile, the tables were turned for Kora and Ersken because Kora was laughing, but Erksen looked offended. Ersken dramatically placed his hand on his heart and said with a wounded look on his face, "Beka, I've been there for years. I've gotten you food tons of times but Aniki just brought you food today, and now you say that she's your favorite! All that food...did that mean nothing to you?"

I looked at Ersken, exasperated from his foolish behavior. "Did you get me food today?"

"No, bu-"

"Aniki got me food today."

"I know, but I've g-"

"Therefore, Aniki is my favorite."

"How could yo-"

"It's very simple Ersken; Aniki got food today, so she's my favorite."

"I've g-given y-you food before and yet," Ersken trailed off, completely confused. Kora comforted him and hugged him as he sat there, glims **(A.N. In case y'all forgot, glims means eyes in Tortall language/slang)** wide. I tried to compose myself to stop me from laughing at him. I heard a chuckle from behind me, and I saw Aniki laughing at Ersken. Giving up, I gave into laughter. Kora was the only one of us who didn't laugh at him, but she still had a small smirk on her life. Our laughter eventually ended, and I went back near the window, where a few pigeons had appeared. They were Slapper and a few other new ones. Ersken, Aniki, and Kora started talking about some sort of gossip. I focused on the pigeons, and I gently broke my bread into small pieces before tossing it at them. It was strange to have three new pigeons in one day which made me uneasy. Suddenly, I remembered the pigeon from last night and quickly examined them to discover that the pigeon from last night was not here.

I was going to name the new pigeons, but I stopped short as the pink one started talking. More accurately, the spirit in the pink pigeon started speaking.

"Sarden fellows killed me! I accepted all their requirements, even the secrecy one, and they killed me! Agreeing to the secrecy requirement was a wee bit foolish of me, but there are only a few jobs 'round here these days, and I and my wife needed the money. Now, I'm dead. What will happen to my poor wife?" The ghost rambled, going from angry to sad. I was listening intently. What's this about a secret job? The secrecy part got me suspicious. What were the people who were getting hired doing? Were they doing something illegal, and why would they kill this man? It seemed like he didn't compromise their secrecy until, well death, so why? The death part also got me worried. How long had this been going on? How many had died due to my ignorance? The ghost was right about there being few jobs, so it was likely that if all those who were hired to do this job were killed, as I suspected, folks would definitely go for this job despite its demands. How many more people would die? Not many people, including Dogs, would make a big deal out of it even if they did notice the disappearances because this was the place in Corus that had the most criminal activity, so it was quite normal for people to just disappear.

I was going to listen to the pink pigeon more, but it flew off. I cursed softly, expecting for the rest of the pigeons to follow the pink pigeon, but they didn't. The new blue pigeon did leave, but there was no spirit on him, so it was fine. The brown one and Slapper stayed. Slapper was being his usual self, slapping me occasionally with his wings, but luckily, today, he seemed to be actually eating the food instead of trying to slap me with his wings. Curious about the brown pigeon, who I had not come up with a name for, I tried to listen to its spirit. "I want to go back! Where are you, Mama? I don't want to be alone! I'm scared; please come, Mama, I promise I won't wander again! I'll stay right beside you on Mutt Piddle Lane! Please! Help me!" The brown pigeon's spirit wailed. I froze at its cries. Mutt Piddle Lane was where I lived with my mother, my siblings, and Pounce before everything went wrong. Bad memories started to cloud up my mind. I tried to get them out of my head, but I couldn't. I thought I was stronger than this; apparently, I wasn't, judging by how easily the guilt corrupted my mind. All I could hear were the screams of terror from the past, and all I could see was my old home and m-

"BEKA, BEKA, COME ON PLEASE TALK!" a voice shouted, shaking me back and forth. My mind cleared, and I saw black eyes staring at me intensely.

I lied, "I'm fine. Why are y'all freaking out?" Rosto took his hands off my shoulders, and he restlessly ran his fingers through his white, blonde hair, his dark eyes panicked.

Kora answered me, "Beka, you weren't responding to any of us when we tried to talk to you. Rosto had walked in then, and he was annoyed that you seemed to be ignoring him, but he got worried after a while of you not responding to anything. When you came back to us, it was two minutes after we had called your name the first time. What is wrong?" Even the usually calm, friendly Kora looked slightly perturbed, and although she tried to disguise it, it was quite evident from looking at her face.

Oh no, I wasn't going to be able to get out of this easily. Not sure what to do, I turned to examine at everyone else.

Luckily, Phelan and Verene still weren't here. However, Ersken and Aniki were present to see what had happened as well, which wasn't good at all. Ersken was terrified for me. Aniki looked quite calm and at ease, but I could see signs of worry in the way she looked at me. I decided that Ersken was going to be the hardest to come up with a satisfying, convincing lie to. I was always calm and controlled in front of him for our entire friendship. Never had he seen this part of me. This was the first time a pigeon or anyone for that matter mentioned Mutt Piddle Lane in front of me while I was near Ersken or anyone I personally know besides Pounce. I quickly glanced to where Pounce was sitting when I last saw him, but he wasn't there. A meow interrupted my search for him, and I glanced down to see that he was in my lap.

What was wrong with me! I was never this unobservant. How could I not notice a cat in my lap? What else could I not notice in more dangerous places? Pounce even gazed at me in a different way, a troubled way. _Beka, stay calm. Was that another flashback?_ Pounce asked me. I nodded, unable and not wanting to speak. _This was the longest one so far. Beka, your flashbacks have been getting longer every time. I know that you don't want to ask for help, but this was two minutes long. In a battle, two seconds can mean the difference between life and death. You can guess what can happen in two minutes. What if this happens while you're fighting? What if someone learns about it and purposely triggers it? Beka, you have to tell someone else; maybe telling someone besides me about it will help._

I chewed on my lip nervously before agreeing and nodding. Pounce then gestured with his head to Kora and the rest of them, who were still waiting for an answer. I spoke out loud, "Later."

Kora looked at me in disbelief. "What do you mean 'later', you couldn't move or respond for five minutes! You better tell us right now, or I swear on the Great Mother God-"

"Don't swear on the Great Mother Goddess for small matters like this." I interrupted, stalling.

"Beka," Aniki said, "What happened? Don't make me force it out of you."

Finally coming up with a good excuse, I explained, "When I use my Gift, I can occasionally space out like that. Ersken has just never seen me go that far." Ersken visibly relaxed, his head hanging down in relief. For Aniki, Rosto, and Kora, they looked more worried.

"The Gift?' Rosto asked.

Realizing the flaw in my lie, I cursed under my breath. I hadn't told them about my magic, and I hadn't planned to! I explained reluctantly "Spirits of the dead who have business in the living world go into pigeons. With my Gift, I can hear them, and I sometimes react like that." Needless to say, Aniki, Rosto, and Kora were stunned. Glad that I had settled out that, I changed the conversation, "So Rosto, did you bring me food?"

Baffled by the abrupt change in conversation, he asked, confusion on his face, "What?"

Ersken picked up on where I was heading with it and explained about what had happened earlier, which led to laughter and arguments. I started to stare out the window because the pigeons had left. There was no need to worry about Rosto, Aniki, Kora, and Ersken getting suspicious now due to the fact that I knew that the Gift could have different effects on different people, so they wouldn't be able to prove me wrong, but I got worried as I felt someone's piercing gaze on me. Casually, I turned around. Black eyes met my ice blue eyes. He looked away and examined me very carefully before meeting my eyes again. His eyes seemed to say something that got me nervous again. Then, he laughed, startling me. He joined Aniki, Ersken, and Kora in their talk. As I watched them, it almost seemed like he had never shared that intense moment with me, but I knew that we did. Last Tuesday, I could honestly say that I had never met anyone who was that good at acting. Then again, a lot of things have changed since last Tuesday.

Writ in the evening

Continuation of the events of Tuesday, April 7, 246

Breakfast had continued as usual after that moment. I tried to participate in the conversation, but I was plagued by the thoughts of the spirits of the pigeons. Later on in breakfast, I realized something. The Shadow Snake had hit in Mutt Piddle Lane; who had it taken? What if it kidnaps another person there? I was still in contact with a few of them, and I knew each of them personally. That was both good and bad because I could get some information from them about the last kidnapping, past kidnappings, and any other kidnappings possibly taking place now, but I genuinely cared for a few of the kids living on Mutt Piddle Lane. The very idea of one of those innocent beings getting kidnapped and killed made me shiver.

Before my brain started coming up with the worst scenarios, I stood up, knowing I'd need to take action. By then, only Rosto and Kora were there. Ersken had left to visit his mother, and Aniki wanted to practice something. She hadn't been very specific. Phelan and Verene hadn't come today, so I reminded myself to check on them, although, I was quite confident that they were fine. I looked at Rosto and Kora, who were looking up at me, startled by my sudden movement.

"I…..need to go somewhere. Once you leave, please close my door behind you," I said, walking towards the door. Rosto stood up and with lightning speed, grabbing my hand, pulling me away from the door.

"Where are you going to exactly, love?" He asked, lifting one of his eyebrows. I glared at him. I could tell from the suspicion on his face that Rosto assumed that I was doing something that had to do with the Shadow Snake. He was right, but I didn't want to let him know, so I stubbornly lied

"I am going to buy some food."

Kora spoke up with an innocent expression on her face, that may or may not have been fake, "Well then, why don't we go with ye?"

I groaned as Rosto smirked. I sighed and glanced at Pounce who had somethin' that looked like a smirk on his face. "Fine, fine. Ye all can come with me. I am going for information for the Shadow Snake."

Celebrating his small victory, Rosto gave a small cheer, letting go of my arm. I ignored him and turned to Kora as she said, "Oh, that's what you're doing. Okay, we are coming with you."

"Of course," I muttered, a scowl on my face. I knew there would be no point to try to stop them from going with me once I told them what I was doing; that's part of the reason why I had lied to them. Sighing, I forced my scowl into a smile for Kora and said, "Come on." Not giving Rosto a second look because I didn't want to look at the triumphant expression on his face any longer, I continued to walk out of the room. Due to the fact that we had finished our meal and cleaned up a while ago, Rosto and Kora had no hesitation in their step as they followed me. I moved at a brisk pace out of the lodgings. Once I was outside, I didn't slow down for Rosto and Kora, instead, I moved faster. If they wanted to go with me so badly, they had to keep up with me. I slipped through the crowd towards the area near my old home. Once I arrived, I stopped. Rosto and Kora had managed to keep up with me and were now looking at our surroundings curiously.

"Beka, you're here! It's been so long since you came last. It was so boring here with just Mom and me," a voice squealed from behind me. Grinning, I spun around and picked up the little girl, spinning her around in my arms. I gently put her down, ready to chide her about disrespecting her mother when I heard a cough. I widened my eyes in surprise; I had completely forgotten about Rosto and Aniki. Gently, I turned her towards Rosto and Aniki's direction.

I introduced the girl to Rosto and Aniki. "Rosto and Aniki, this is Luana." I added, noticing Luana's slightly confused look, "Luana, the boy is Rosto, and the girl is Aniki." She smiled happily, nodding.

"Hello! Are you two friends of Beka?" Luana asked curiously.

Rosto replied, "Yes."

I looked at Rosto in surprise. I had only known Kora and Rosto for a very short amount of time, and it usually took me at least a year to consider someone an acquaintance, much less a friend! Rosto gave me a challenging look as if to ask if I considered them as friends. I looked at them for a while before smiling. Rosto looked a bit startled as if he was expecting me to object. To be perfectly honest, I was expecting myself to object, but I didn't. I don't know why or how, but Rosto, Kora, and Aniki had gotten very close to me, close enough that I now thought of them as friends. On one hand, it freaked me out that I had let people get so close to me in such a short time. On the other hand, I was glad to have more friends than just the few I have, and I was happy that I had befriended more people with the same 'job' as mine. Deciding to think about that later, I snapped back into the present.

While I was thinking, everything had remained quiet, which I was happy about. I didn't like missing parts of people's conversation. Luana suddenly started talking in a blur of words that I- and judging by the looks on their faces, Rosto and Kora- didn't understand. "Slow down Luana."

Luana looked at me, annoyed at the chiding tone that had seeped into my voice before talking again. "As I was saying, I am so excited! Beka usually doesn't bring people here, and I was starting to wonder if she was secretly a recluse! I mean seriously; she needs more friends. Darn, I was going to say something else, but because Beka interrupted me, " Luana said in frustration, glaring at me, "I can't remember. Oh well."

Kora smiled at Luana and said, "Well, Rosto and I can say one thing for sure: we aren't leaving Beka anytime soon." I was startled by her statement, but I didn't say anything. Everyone leaves me at some point.

Luana smiled. "That's good."

"Luana, where are the rest of the kids?" I asked, noticing how the street looked a little more empty than usual.

Luana suddenly looked a little sad and said, "Kalila, Alazne, and Irene are in one of their meetings they didn't let me join. Laberiz, Trigan, and Atrivel are grumpy about not being invited to their meeting, so they ran off to who knows where. I was left alone."

"Well, you've got me now," I said gently, not worrying much about the other children; they were quite responsible.

Luana cheered up and said, "Yes, I do."

Remembering why I was here, I asked, "Luana, where is your mother?"

"Oh, she is at our home. Come on!" Luana exclaimed enthusiastically, running towards her house. I gestured towards Luana's house, looking at Rosto and Aniki before jogging to catch up to Luana.

Luana skipped happily up to the doorway whilst I sat there, waiting. She swung the door open, her angelic, happy voice bouncing off the walls of the house, "Mommy, someone is here to talk to you!"

"I'm coming ye little piece of mischief!" a voice replied slightly wearily. A woman appeared into my line of vision. It was Luana's mother. Luana was practically a copy of her mum with the same bright blue eyes and soft brown eyes. They both were quite petite for their age and shared the same eye shape, along with the same slender long nose. Luana's hair, however, was curly, so Hoffa, Luana's mom, credited Luana's father for that. Unlike other children around here, Luana was created out of love between Hoffa and her husband. Yes, they were married, but then Luana's father died from some sickness. Hoffa stayed strong after his death, and she treated Luana well. Hoffa is only three or four years older than me, but at times, she acted like she was much younger than me; I am glad that her perkiness hasn't washed away with all the responsibilities that were thrust upon her.

"Oh, hello Beka! What are ye doing here?" Hoffa asked, slightly flustered, probably from one of her chores. I stepped into the house, looking around the 'living room' cautiously.

I replied, "To talk." I quickly glanced at Luana before looking back at Hoffa. Hoffa nodded in understanding.

"Luana dear," Hoffa suggested, "why don't ye move along here now."

Luana huffed and said, glaring at Hoffa, "Mommy, I don't have anything to do, and I am bored. I want to play with Beka!"

"We-" Hoffa started.

"Hold on, we will play with you, Luana," a voice said from behind me. I spun around to see that Kora had talked. I groaned as I realized that they had once again caught me by surprise. I was really not used to having other people around me, more used to being solo. However, now I was glad that they were here. They could distract Luana, so I could talk to Hoffa. Rosto soon caught my attention by coughing loudly. I glanced at him, wondering what he wanted. He was leaning against the doorway, looking at me intently with a look in his eyes that told me he wanted to know what Hoffa said. I sighed, giving up, and nodded. He smiled in triumph while I huffed in annoyance. I was being forced to tell Rosto, Aniki, and Kora way more information than I preferred. Ersken and my other friends had never been able to force me to say anything. I definitely wasn't used to this feeling of defeat in a battle of words. Although I had never been good with words as a child due to how shy I was, my trait of being shy had faded as I had to get myself out of bad situations with my words, and my skills with words had improved dramatically.

"Who are ye two?" Hoffa said, her warm voice turning cold, discretely reaching for a knife.

I was about to explain when Luana said, "Those are Beka's friends, Mommy!"

Hoffa froze. "B-beka" she stuttered out, "made new friends that she brought here." I saw her baffled expression and groaned as it soon became happy. She opened her mouth and shrieked.

"YES! YOU HAVE FINALLY BECOME SOCIAL BEKA! WE NEED A CELEBRATION! COME ON LUANA, WHO SHOULD WE INVITE. MAYBE L-"

I cut her off and said, "Hoffa be quiet. If you kept on yelling like that the neighbors would think that I am killin' ye or somethin'!" Kora looked amused, and Rosto was holding back snickers. Luana was pretty calm about her mother's outburst.

Hoffa gave me a disbelieving look before muttering, "It's not like they'll do anything about it." I sighed, knowing it was true. It wasn't like anyone had done anything in my neighborhood when they heard M- no, it's time to focus. Get back on task, Beka, I scolded myself before returning back to present time.

"Yes Hoffa these are my…...friends," I said, hesitating before the words 'friends'. It was weird to call anyone a 'friend' out loud, to be honest, it had been a long time since I had uttered that word. Hoffa squealed in excitement, probably thrilled about me having new friends, and she said, "Well, if y'all are Beka's friends, then I trust you. Go along Luana." Luana smiled and ran over to Rosto and Kora. The sides of my mouth curved up to see how easily Luana was accepting Rosto and Kora.

I looked at Rosto and Kora, judging them. Although they were my friends, Luana is very dear to both me and Hoffa. Finally, I said, "If Luana gets hurt, you two are going to be the lucky ones to have me use my pardon on your deaths. Understand?" Kora nodded, gulping slightly whereas Rosto smirked. I raised an eyebrow at him, disturbed by his nonchalance.

"Don't worry, love, Luana will be safe with us," Rosto replied.

"She better be, and don't call me love!"

"Sure…..love."

"Don't call me that!"

"Don't call you what?"

"Don't call me love."

"Okay, sure, love."

"I told you not to call me tha- oh forget it. Just go along and leave Hoffa and me to discuss certain matters." I grumbled, thoroughly frustrated with Rosto.

"Okay, we're going, love," Rosto said, grinning at me, trying to get under my skin. He certainly was doing a great job at doing that. Kora was smirking now, trying to control her laughter. I muttered a non-coherent sound and turned back to Hoffa, who was also smiling.

"Bye Beka!" Luana yelled, the only one oblivious to what was going on.

I disguised my disgruntled state and smiled widely at Luana, shouting back, "Bye!" Rosto seemed like he was about to shout something to me, but Kora stopped him, dragging him away. I always liked that girl. As Rosto, Kora, and Luana walked away, I looked back at Hoffa. She was smiling.

"So, what's between ye and tha' Rosto fellow?" Hoffa asked mischievously.

Interpreting the look in her eyes, I shook my head. "No, no Hoffa, I am not involved with Rosto like that." Hoffa simply smiled and whispered something that I couldn't hear before looking back at me.

Hoffa said in a louder voice, "Well then, if you didn't come here to have me evaluate Rosto and let me give you relationship advice, why did you come?" She raised one of her eyebrows, giving me a suspicious look. I sighed, and then I looked straight into her cheerful eyes that would soon be drenched in grief.

"I need information on the Shadow Snake, and I need to know why you haven't told me about it."

- **A.N. READ THIS PLEASE; IT IS VERY IMPORTANT! Alright, so I was going to temporarily discontinue this fanfiction, but I have been getting messages telling me that people have favorited and followed me and my fanfiction, so I am not going to do that anymore. However, please be patient with me. I am going to try to update more often, but I am not promising anything. Also, I am planning on starting a new story on WattPad, just telling you all! Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter!**


	8. Trust

**A.N. Welp. I am a terrible author. No need to state it again. So, please enjoy this extra long chapter, and forgive me?**

Beka Cooper

Rusher of Kayfer's Court

Continuation of Tuesday, April 7, 246

Hoffa widened her glims and looked at me. I looked into her eyes and saw the three emotions I didn't want to see in her eyes: guilt, sadness, and desperation. I was trying to postpone the facts from making me come up with a conclusion, and instead, I was trying to say that Hoffa didn't keep this from me. Surely she just wasn't aware of the Shadow Snake, but I knew from her eyes that she did keep this from me on purpose. "Beka, I'm so sorry, bu-"

"But what, Hoffa? Maybe, if I'd known this earlier, I could've rooted it out. Maybe, so many children wouldn't have died. Maybe, Roland could've have been alive. Hoffa, please explain to me why you kept this from me. You know this type of catastrophe is exactly what I was trying to stop from happening," I said, feeling a familiar numbness creep over my face. Whereas others blew up when they were angry and felt hot, I always felt cold. Right now, I was extremely angry at Hoffa.

"BEKA! Listen for a moment!" Hoffa yelled at me, her face turning red. I felt my face become emotionless. I nodded, waiting for her no doubt pathetic excuse. When I had first come here, I was distracted by Luana, Rosto, and Aniki, so I hadn't gotten angry at first. I was also hoping that Hoffa was simply unaware of the Shadow Snake. I should've known better. Hoffa is a gossip, meaning she knows more about what's going on the streets than about ninety percent of the population of the Lower City. Hoffa took in deep breaths, her face expressing terror and anger.

"Beka, you know what a bad place you were in for the past few years. Up until you got your siblings settled in my Lord Provost's house, you stayed calm and composed for them. Once they left, when you were ten or so, I saw you break. You tried to hide it, but you were hurting. Even then, though, you stayed strong and worked hard as your job as a rusher. You pushed away that little part of you that wanted to hunt out the terrible Rats because of what had happened. D'ya really think that' I was gonna tell you about the Shadow Snake when you were in such terrible shape? If you tried to do it three years ago, it would not have been for the children, no matter how hard you'd try to tell yourself that it would be. If you went after the Shadow Snake when you were thirteen or fourteen, it would have been a suicide mission. You were in a really low place then, I didn't want to go give you a chance to kill yourself in a way that would make you seem like a hero. I know you managed to get out off it around the age of fifteen, but you still didn't notice the Shadow Snake then, either. If I had told you about the Shadow Snake, you would have felt terrible about never noticing it before. Plus, your hunting side still wasn't there. Now, though, I see it again. I see that spark, so now, I'll help you," Hoffa said, crossing her arms over her chest. Sarden Hoffa! She was right.

"You know me too well," I muttered.

Hoffa smiled and laughed, seeing that I wasn't that angry at her now. "What can I say, Pounce and I have to keep you in line!" I gave her a small smile.

"Now that I have that 'spark', can you tell me more about the Shadow Snake? Has anyone here gotten kidnapped?" I asked, trying struggling to keep my voice from breaking.

Hoffa's happy expression soon turned grim. There was a frown on her face as she spoke. "Pieya got kidnapped. Luckily, her parents paid the ransom. Other than that, there hasn't been much Shadow Snake action here lately. I'm guessing you did your research on the Shadow Snake and learned that they often kidnap children for something precious in return, like a jewel. As you know, people here in Mutt Piddle Lane don't have much. Irene is having troubles with her mother," Hoffa said, observing the way my jaw clenched. Irene's mother didn't deserve to be a mother. She drank alcohol often and was usually drunk or suffering from the after effects. Irene had to work jobs to be able to provide for herself and her mother. Her mother, of course, would promptly use the money for alcohol. I had tried, many times, to get Irene to leave her good for nothing mother to no avail. Apparently, despite how terrible she was, Irene still felt love for her mother, and she insisted on not leaving her mother. Maybe some part of Irene remembered the bright, gentle woman Irene's mother had once been before the love of her life, Irene's father, died. "For some sarden reason, Framela has been showing off her jewelry, especially that one topaz she has inherited. I'm afraid that the Shadow Snake might notice and try to kidnap Irene, an-"

I cut her off by muttering, "Sarden woman."

Hoffa gave me a chiding look before continuing, "As I was saying, I am afraid-"

"I know, I get it. Framela might get Irene kidnapped. Sometimes, Framela doesn't even remember having a daughter, and other times, she doesn't recognize Irene, so if she gets a note from the Shadow Snake, chances are that she won't do a thing, letting Irene die. That won't happen," I said firmly.

Hoffa raised her eyebrow at me. "Well then, what are you going to do about it?"

I mumbled, "First, I am going to hang Framela to her door by her hair-"

"Beka," Hoffa said sternly, but I could see that she was trying to hold in her laughter.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, I won't do anything bad to Framela. It looks like Irene is moving to my place." Hoffa nodded, smiling. Suddenly, the expression on her face changed drastically as fear set on her face.

"What will we tell Framela, and how will we get Irene to agree with this?" Hoffa asked, her eyebrows scrunched together as she thought.

"Framela won't really notice anyway, you know that. She has had only five moments of sanity since her husband died, and the longest one lasted for an hour. Plus, that's where you'll come in. If you hear Framela asking about where Irene is or if you see her wandering the streets, you can get her to calm down and relax until she returns to insanity," I said. I know that I sounded extremely blunt and maybe even cruel, but it was all the truth. I had lost hope of Framela coming back to sanity permanently for years. Framela had once been a great friend of mine, but now, she was in a state of depression. It hurt to see her these days, with a blank look on her face and, worse, an empty look in her eyes. I don't know how Irene could handle it, maybe because she had never seen Framela with the light in her eyes since she was a mere four-year-old. To be honest, it would be a miracle, or a tragedy, depending on how someone looks at it if Irene could even remember what Framela once looked like. "As for Irene, you and I will visit Framela every so often to take care of her. That should be enough to satisfy Irene, once she learns what danger she is in. Irene is a smart kid."

Hoffa grinned and saluted to me. "Yes, ma'am, anythin' else?"

The corners of my lips turned up. "Oh, stop it you," I said, punching her arm lightly.

"Stop what, ma'am?" Hoffa asked, smirking at me.

I shook my head at her before getting back to business. "Have you heard of anyone besides Pieya being kidnapped? What detail do you know of Pieya's kidnapping? Do you think Pieya's parents would be fine with me questioning them?"

"I heard that May's daughter was kidnapped from her bed and killed. Apparently, May's daughter's body had shown up by the door. Also, Krizel, Clien, and Yalira were kidnapped and returned after the ransom was paid. Krizel and Clien were kidnapped while walking around the marketplace. Yalira was kidnapped from her bed. Krizel showed Drien and Saliz were kidnapped….and killed as well when their parents didn't pay the ransom. As for Pieya, I haven't heard much about how she was kidnapped. Her parents are now very protective of her, but for you, I'm sure they will spill out the details."

I nodded, my eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "I will visit Pieya's parents tomorrow. Thanks for the information, Hoffa. Be careful, there are all sorts of people 'round here."

Hoffa nodded and smiled. "Good to see you back, little terrier." I smiled back as bittersweet emotions filled me, remembering the last town someone had called me 'little terrier'.

"Good to be back," I replied shortly, a smile threatening to show on my face, and then I walked away towards where I could see Rosto, Kora, and Luana.

"Beka," Hoffa called out to me. I paused and looked back at her. She made eye contact with me before asking, "Why did you befriend those people? Does it have to do with your job?"

I paused, thinking of my answer. I had often asked myself the same question. "It had to do with my job at first, and it still does," I said, "but now-" I paused, realizing that there was more to it and not liking it. This relationship I had with Rosto, Aniki, and Kora was supposed to be purely professional, and yet somehow, I had let them into this part of my world and felt like there was more to it than just my job.

"Yes?" Hoffa asked, waiting for me to continue. I shook my head.

"Never mind," I muttered while an unwelcome answer to her question forced it's way into my brain. The truth was I felt like maybe it won't always have to be centered around my job. Maybe, it's just because I am starting to see that they might actually be good people. No, though. I won't let them in.

Hoffa smirked, like she knew what I was thinking. "If you don't want to accidentally let them in, be careful. Introducing people as your friends usually indicates that you are starting to trust them. You also let them take care of Luana. Remember, complete trust can be the key to unlocking your rough exterior, and once that is unlocked, you'll find yourself caring for them, whether you like it or not."

I turned back around and tried to ignore the unsettling feeling that Hoffa's words gave me. I tried to distract myself from thinking about what Hoffa had said by observing the happy trio. Luana was walking around with Aniki, both of them smiling. It had been a while since I had seen that gleam of true happiness in Luana's eyes. Aniki had a full on grin, and despite the multiple weapons on her, she looked friendly and carefree. Rosto was hiding behind a corner, a smirk on his face. I noticed the gentle way he looked at Luana as she chattered on and on to Aniki about something I couldn't hear, but I guessed it was about where Rosto could be hiding, judging by the smirk on his face. As I observed this, I found myself replaying what Hoffa had said. Maybe- no she was just being silly. I tried to convince myself of that as I walked towards Rosto, Aniki, and Luana, but a small part of me believed what Hoffa had said and was happy about it.

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"What'cha doin'?" I whispered into Luana's ear.

"Agh! Don't scare me like that!" Luana screamed, surprised by my sudden presence. I suppressed a smirk as I watched how startled she got. Aniki looked like she was suppressing a giggle, and I could just barely see the hint of a smile on Rosto's face as he looked at us from within the shadows.

I replied, a smirk on my face, "You know I will scare you like that again. Nothing can stop me from doing that. Anyway, are you looking for Rosto?" Luana pouted, before nodding eagerly, as Aniki nodded slowly, leaning against a tree. Aniki probably already knew where Rosto was. Rosto was shaking his head at me, telling me not to reveal his hiding place to Rosto. I ignored him and continued talking. "Have you looked around that corner yet?" I asked Luana, pointing to where Rosto was.

Luana shook her head before squealing and running to the corner. "I found you!" Luana yelled, pulling Rosto into the sun. Rosto sent me a glare, and I reciprocated it with a bright smile.

Like a kid, Rosto muttered bitterly, "You wouldn't have found me if Beka hadn't given me away."

Luana looked at him and asked in a strict tone of voice, "What did you say?"

"Well, as fun as this was, we have to get going," I said, interrupting their conversation, knowing it was going to get a little heated if I let them continue talking. Luana looked at me, her conversation with Rosto long forgotten.

"You can't be leavin' already," Luana pleaded.

I sighed, knowing that she was trying to use her puppy eyes on me, "Hey, I'll be back soon," I said, trying to ignore the guilt that built up in my chest. I, honestly, probably wouldn't be able to come over as often because of all the things happening in the Lower City.

Luana shook her head stubbornly. "What you said isn't good enough for me. Be back here by next Wednesday or else I'll find you and drag you back!" I chuckled and messed up her hair.

"I'll be back," I said, smiling, "Now, are the girls at their 'place'?"

The smile on Luana's face faded a bit as she nodded. "They looked really worried."

I immediately got worried as well, however as I watched Luana's face, I forced my frown to turn into a grin. "I'm sure they're fine." Luana smiled, and I continued, "Now, move along, and get to your Mama."

Luana gave me a quick grin before rushing back to her house, yelling, "Don't you forget! Maybe you can bring Rosto and Annie too!"

I struggled to stop myself from laughing at Luana's nickname for Aniki, whereas Rosto just started full out laughing. "Hmm, well, let's get going, Annie," Rosto said, teasing Aniki.

Aniki glared at Rosto, choosing to not reply to him. "Well, I have to get going. Y'all coming?" I asked. They nodded, so I set off to find Irene. I noticed the familiar close to broken down house. "Hey, can y'all go somewhere else for right now? The girls might get nervous. They're not used to new faces, and they're not quite as friendly as Luana when it comes to strangers…" I trailed off. Aniki and Rosto nodded and walked away, Rosto doing it rather reluctantly. While what I had said to them was true, the girls didn't trust strangers easily, that wasn't the main reason why I had wanted them to go away. What Hoffa had said hit me hard and made me realize how close I was letting myself get to them. I had eaten breakfast with them, loosened up around them, laughed with them, let them witness a brief period of weakness on my part this morning, and I had shown them, Luana. I was giving them way too much of a part in my life. They were simply acquaintances, and I regretted what I had said to Luana about them being friends. I had foolishly let my guard down with them, and I was determined not to do it again. I turned away from them, focusing both physically and mentally on the house. Swallowing down my nerves, I walked towards the house, and after hearing the whispers and sobs from inside, I knocked lightly on the house. The whispers and sobs from the house silenced, making me smile. They were being very cautious like I taught them to be.

"Who is it?" Kalila said in a wary tone.

"I"m Kayfer, the Rogue of Corus, and I am here to imprison you all," I said in a gruff tone, mimicking Kayfer. I heard a few shuffles and sounds that told me that they were moving around, probably trying to escape. I stifled a laugh, before saying, "I'm hurt that you guys actually thought it was Kayfer. I mean, come on, how long have I known you all." The scuffles and shuffles turned into screeches. The door opened with a bang, and before I felt the impact, all I saw was a blur of dark brown hair, which belonged to Kalila, as she flung herself at me. Following after Kalila's footsteps, Alazne and Irene hugged me as well, however, they at least didn't almost hit me to the ground.

"That's more like what I was expecting," I said chuckling. Suddenly, I felt a bunch of small arms hit me. I stepped away, trying to shield myself. "I should've expected this," I muttered.

"Yes, you should have. You haven't been down here in ages, Beka! You're lucky that we're not skinning you alive!" Kalila screeched, her dark brown eyes flaring up. I flinched at the volume of Kalila's voice and her rather formidable threat. Why did I ever teach that girl how to threaten someone properly?

Irene flinched as well, whereas Alazne did not even react to Kalila's scream. To this day, Alazne is the only one I know of who can ignore Kalila completely when she screeches like that. She was pretty sensible, responsible, calm, and quiet, which is why I usually thought of her as the glue to hold her whole group of girls together. That's why when I saw the worry in Alazne's face, I got worried. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

Alazne brushed aside her red hair and looked up at me. Her blue eyes connected with me as she whispered: "Things are getting tough for Irene."

I immediately looked at Irene. Her face was slightly bruised and was extremely dirty, even for where she lived. Kalila and Alazne were much cleaner than her. However, the most heartbreaking thing about her was the desperation and sorrow in her young eyes. There was no way I was going to let Irene stay here now.

Irene asked in a gentle tone, "Why didn't you come sooner?" I softened as I saw the moistness of her eyes and heard her voice. It was fragile, barely like her normal voice.

"I'm sorry, some new people came around that I had to deal with," I said, caressing her cheek.

"Don't do that again, ever," Irene said, her gentle voice turning hard as she looked into my eyes, determined. I felt guilt weigh heavily on my heart as I looked at her, Kalila, and Alazne. I had to remember that they were still little girls who deserved better than this place. I had to remember that for some sarden reason they looked up to me, and I had no plans of breaking their hearts by leaving them ever. I knew what it was like. I never wanted these girls to go through that.

"I won't," I croaked, emotions I had locked away for years filling my heart once more, "I won't leave ever." I met each of their eyes, silently vowing to always look out for them, until death and after. Kalila laughed and hugged me around the neck, smiling brightly.

"Well then, come in! We have to talk!" Alazne screeched, pulling me into their hut. Kalila shut the door behind me and sat beside me as Alazne and Irene also settled down.

"What's going on?" I asked, examining Irene thoroughly for any bruises.

Kalila chuckled and exclaimed, nervousness in her voice, "What are you talking about?

Everything's fine!" Alazne glared at her and punched her in the shoulder.

"Ow, what was that-" Kalila cut herself off, seeing me watch them.

"I believe Alazne did that because she knew I wouldn't believe you. Alazne was always the better liar of this trio," I stated simply, before turning my attention back to Irene. "Now, what is wrong?" I asked firmly.

Kalila opened her mouth to spout out another terrible lie, no doubt, but Irene cut her off. "I'm just upset about Mum," Irene said, her soft voice slightly trembling. The other girls nodded solemnly. I didn't buy it. It was true, but there was more to this. I was about to actually interrogate the girls when I finally spotted something out of place on Irene: a scar on her shoulder, one so minuscule most wouldn't think much of it. I, however, know better as someone who's job majorly has to do with fighting. In an instant, I was off the ground and kneeling in front of Irene, my finger tracing the scar.

"What did they steal?" I asked, anger seeping into my voice.

"Wh-what do you-" Irene started.

"Don't. What did they steal?" I asked once more, struggling to stop my voice from going cold.

Irene gave up. I saw the tears rolling down her face as she whispered, "Some money I had managed to collect." I narrowed my eyes, abruptly standing.

"How much?"

"It was from five jobs as a runner."

I stayed silent. I knew my eyes were looking like ice. They always did when I was angry. I struggled to control myself and slowed by breaths.

"Alright. Well, you won't have to worry about money for a while." I stated, ready to bring up why I came here.

"Why-what did you do?" Irene asked, her normally sweet voice turning tough as shelooked at me with suspicion.

"You're staying with me, and Hoffa will take care of your mother," I said, grinning as I saw her face melt into an expression of anger.

Irene yelled, "No! I have to provide for her, I'm-"

"Irene, you're a kid. You shouldn't have to provide for anyone," I said, making my voice more gentle.

She stuttered for a bit, knowing I was right, yet still struggling to find a way to be able to convince me to let her stay. "Bu-but you did that as a kid!" She burst out, finally having something she thought she could use against me.

A surge of painful memories burst into my brain before I managed to block them out again. "That was done in entirely different circumstances, and you know it."

Irene said nothing, just nodding, as she realized she crossed a line. "Fine, I'll go," I grinned, knowing I had won, "but I want to know why now?" She asked. My face fell, as Irene smiled. I groaned before conceding.

I looked at Kalila and Alazne, motioning for them to come closer, "I suppose you all know about there being bad things out there, really bad things. Well, there is one thing that is called the Shadow Snake. I'm guessing they're a group of people, at least more than one person, and they've been kidnapping children to get objects from their parents. Your mother has been showing off a rather pretty topaz." I started, leaving them to figure it out the rest of it. Once all their faces showed comprehension, I spoke again, "You need to be with me so I can protect you. Most won't dare to sneak into a rouge's living quarters, much less kidnap someone from there." I then turned to look at Kalila and Alazne. "As for you two, be careful. Don't let your parents flaunt anything and stay safe. Tell the boys that as well," They nodded. I sighed, relieved to get that off my chest. "I'm going to have to go now. I'll be back soon, I promise," I said to Alazne and Kalila.

They lunged at me, hugging me. I hugged them back, a thought coming to mind that this might be the last time I would hug them. I immediately rejected that idea. They would live.

I reluctantly pulled away from them, nodding when they said to stay safe. I walked out of the hut with Irene, who couldn't bear to look away from it. I forced myself to look straight forward to where Rosto and Aniki were. I felt caution fill me as I viewed them suspiciously.

"Follow me home. Call if you're in trouble. I'll call for you to come out," I told Irene. She nodded briefly before hiding in the shadows. I walked forward to Aniki and Rosto, and we walked back to the apartments in silence, a quite disturbing silence. Once I was sure they were in their rooms, I called for Irene. We walked to my apartment where I fell to the floor, Irene sleeping on the bed. As I fell asleep, I faintly saw violet eyes staring back at me, fear filling them.


	9. The Papers

**A.N. Merry Christmas! Yes, I know it's late in the night, but it still counts! Take this chapter as a present, and maybe give me one back by commenting? DISCLAIMER: This all belongs to Tamora Pierce. I'm just a weird female who is slightly obsessed with this book.**

Beka Cooper

Rusher of Kayfer's Court

Wednesday of April 8, 246

I woke up this morning with a cramp in my neck.

"Dammit!" I cursed, rubbing the back of my neck.

 _It's your fault for falling asleep on the wall in that position,_ Pounce said, walking away from me, towards the window.

I just glared at him, knowing he was right but not wanting to admit it. Wait-why was I sleeping against the wall? I looked up at my bed to see a little figure on it, sleeping. Suddenly, all the memories from yesterday came flooding back. Irene turned over in her sleep, muttering something under her breath. I got up slowly and walked to the bed, examining her face. Her fire red hair was falling in strands all over her face, her eyebrows were scrunched together, and her pale pink lips were curved down in a frown. The frown on her face disturbed me greatly, she was too young to go to sleep with a frown on her face. I sighed, before walking towards my closet to grab some clothes. I opened the closet, and while I was looking for clothes, my mind started thinking about Irene. She went through too many hardships for someone of her age. Luana, Kalila, Alazne, and the boys all did suffer as well but they had someone there for them, whether it was their mother, father, older sibling, or older relative. All of them besides Irene had someone decent to look up to. She was cursed with a mother that didn't deserve having a child. If only I could send Irene up to My Lord Provost's House with my connections where she'd be remotely safe and have a chance of getting a decent job that would take her out of the Lower City, if she wished so. Irene might even find a role model up there. It was very unlikely for that to happen here. Alas, it had taken a lot of bribing and calling favors to get my siblings up to My Lord Provost's House, and I think I wouldn't be able to do that again, especially now that I was a rusher. My connections might think I was trying to sneak a killer in there or something and refuse. Also, I had a slightly more selfish reason for not trying to send her up there as much as I'd like to ignore it. My sisters had looked up to me before like Irene does, and I know what they think of me now. What Nilo had told me a few days ago only confirmed my worries. I didn't want another person I cared about to hate me. Taking in a deep breath, I quickly grabbed my clothes, trying to forget what I was thinking about.

I was about to change, when I paused abruptly and groaned, hitting my head against the wall. I had promised Nilo I was going to visit him which was a lapse of judgment. I was just so angry and frustrated after that stunt he pulled that I had agreed. I couldn't back out now though, otherwise he'd bug me about it for the rest of my existence and possibly go venturing off in the Lower City again! Reluctantly, I opened the closet and grabbed a new set of clothes to wear, knowing what must be done and dreading it. Struggling, I changed into those clothes and added a few accessories to compliment it. I grabbed my pocket watch from atop one of my drawers and checked the time, decided it was time to wake Irene up, before dropping the watch in my pocket. I strolled to her bed, pausing, before shaking her shoulder wildly. Immediately, she got up, frazzled. Her red hair was scattered all over her tan face and she wore a panicked expression, her hazel glims wide open. "What's wrong? Did-Beka!" She yelled, glaring at me, the culprit.

"Yes?" I cooed, smirking at the anger in her eyes.

"You know I hate that!"

"Yes, I do know that."

"Then, why did you do it!"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because I hate it!"

"So?"

"So since you know I hate it, you should find some kindness and compassion within you and not do it!"

"Where's the fun in that?" I pouted, feeling smug as I saw the anger and annoyance race through her face.

She stuttered, her face bright red, matching her hair as she tried to come up with a response,"Y-you-but-why-ugh, you know what, never mind!"

"It's so easy to fluster you, dear," I said, laughing whilst leaning against the wall. Irene glared at me, not bothering to reply. I waited, anticipating another response from Irene. She abruptly stopped glaring at me and gaped, her gob hitting the ground. "There it is!" I called out, watching Irene's anger turn into confusion.

"But-but-why-you-why-what?" Irene asked, confusion swimming through her hazel eyes. A loud meow got both of our attention. _Stop torturing the poor girl, Beka!_ Pounce scolded. I rolled my eyes. Fine.

Pounce nodded in approval, probably knowing that I had complied with his demands. I stuck my tongue out at him before turning to Irene again. "I am wearing this to get into My Lord Provost's house dear. Trust me, I don't want to wear this, but situations call for this type of clothing."

Irene nodded, trying to show that she understood what I was saying. I could still see her confusion, but I ignored it. I wouldn't explain any more. If this went as planned, everything would be confidential. "So, umm, what do I do now?" Irene asked, twirling a strand of her hair whilst staring at the floor.

I raised my eyebrow at her. "Irene, what do you usually do when you wake up?"

"Change into my clothes," she answered slowly, "but they're back at home." Without saying a word (because if I did say something, I would've cursed at myself and no one likes that in the morning), I grabbed some of my old clothes from my closet and tossed them to her. I pulled out my drawers in search for food I could've sworn I had bought. I had just pulled my third out of four drawers when I saw spiced turnovers. Not bothering to turn around, I threw two of them behind me, trusting Irene to catch them. I picked two to eat and straightened my clothes before turning around to face Irene, who had two turnovers in her hand with an irritated expression on her face.

"Alright, I am going to go out now. You can stay here or explore the neighborhood. Be safe though, remember, I have eyes here, so I will know if you do anything bad," I warned her, whilst I chewed on my food.

Irene rolled her eyes at me. "Yes, _Mother_."

I glared at her, before choosing not to respond and walking to my door. Right before I stepped out the door, I remembered something and turned around. I met Irene's determined hazel eyes and said, "Be safe, please." She nodded in response, giving me a small smile. I gave her back a weak smile before stepping out the door, shutting it behind me. I jogged down the stairs, stopping at Aniki's when I remembered I'd probably want to tell Aniki, Kora, and Rosto that I wouldn't be able to make it to breakfast today. Then, I knocked loudly against her door. I waited for a minute, and then, out of curiosity to know why she hadn't opened to door, I debated with my morals for a a minuted before lock-picking her door open. As I tiptoed into her room, I saw her on the bed, slung across the bed at an awkward angle. I was tempted to wake her up and scare her, but I restrained myself as I remembered to not get too close. As I glanced casually around the room, I spotted a piece of paper that seemed to have an old list on it. I turned it on it's backside and grabbed one of her pens, writing down a message to her for when she woke up. I quickly and quietly left her room and went to Kora's. I jogged down to Kora's room, when I suddenly ran into something. Was it a wall, I wondered before looking up to see dark brown glims. Sarden Aniki. I could've avoided talking to Rosto and walked right past him if she had been awake.

"Hello, love-what are you wearing?" Rosto asked, startled. I blushed, feeling bit flustered at the surprised, yet pleased look in his eyes. I needed to get myself together! Placing a bored look on my face, I replied.

"I thought that by living with Kora you would've at least seen this article of clothing, even if you didn't learn what it is called," I stated dryly, backing away from him.

Rosto's lips quirked up as he said, "Love, I am quite aware that your 'article of clothing' as you said it, is a dress, and a good one at that, but I'd like to know why you are wearing it."

I crossed my arms. "Well, too bad. I won't tell you."

He smirked, and I felt myself unconsciously tense. I swear he always has some mischievous thoughts in his head when he smirks. "I get to guess then! Oh, I know, it's a no-brainer. You did it for me because you knew how much I'd," he paused, looking me over once more, "appreciate it."

"Wrong, " I replied shortly, trying to not get flustered. That arrogant scut.

Rosto pouted. "Can I guess again?"

"Nope. I've got places to go and people to see," I retorted, turning away from him. I stopped mid-turn, remembering my purpose of conversing with Rosto. "Oh-I will be gone for majority of the day, so please don't wait for me to eat, and you all will have to move along to eat somewhere else, besides my room. Tell the rest of 'em that too, will you? Thanks," I said, not waiting for him to reply as I headed to the door of the lodgings to leave.

"I never agreed," I heard Rosto call out, and I could practically hear the laughter in his voice.

"I know," I replied, striding out of the lodgings. This time, I heard his laughter ring throughout the building.

As I walked down to the Provost's house, I occasionally stopped to eat my breakfast. As well as eating, I carefully observed my surroundings as I strolled down the sunny streets, making sure to keep my eye out. Even though the scenes around me seemed innocent enough, I knew on a first hand basis how wrong things could turn out to be when everything looked okay. I looked around me, at the good and bad in the city I lived in. The Lower City is quite an interesting city to say the least, but I can't imagine living anywhere else. I refocused on the present as I spotted the gates, the silver it was made of glinting in the sun. The guards were either pacing back and forth in front of the gates or standing still in front of the gates, watching everyone around them. I swallowed, feeling uneasy. Taking in a deep breath, I approached the gates before abruptly stopping as I realized I needed to observe both the gates' security and the guards' behavior. I didn't want to attract attention, so I walked over to one of the stalls, looking over the old man's apples and fruits. I chose one while watching the gates in the corner of my eye. The old man met my gaze with his clear green eyes, handing me the apple after I handed him the coins. Nodding in thanks, I grabbed it and strolled down the street. My eyes casually drifted over the scene in front of me, looking for a good hiding place. I stopped looking once I saw something that seemed to be perfect: a dark corner that was far and sneaky enough to hide in, while still being close enough to be used for me to stay in and watch the gates and the guards. Perhaps I wouldn't have a clear view, but I would still be able to watch them, unnoticed, and that's what was important.

Swiftly, I strolled over the the corner, making fleeting contact with few people as I walked throughout the crowd. My eyes were focused on the hiding place as I counted the seconds until I got to the seemingly safe place. The dusty brown of the house blended in well with the rest of the scenery I noted as I stepped into the corner, carefully observing those around me. Staring at the gate, I munched on the apple. I needed to be careful, for it was dangerous for a rusher like me to approach and enter the Lord Provost's home. Due to me being very careful to remain discrete in the Court of the Rouge, I was pretty sure I would go unrecognized into the house, but my nerves were quite frayed. What had I been thinking when I had promised Nico to visit him in there?! Oh right, I hadn't been really thinking at all. There was always that chance of someone recognizing me as a rusher and me being brought to jail. Of course, Kayfer could pull some strings to let me out easily, after all, many Dogs weren't immune to bribes, even if it was to get a person who had killed before out of jail. They wouldn't have any proof on me either, but I feared that Ulsa and Dawull would take this advantage to convince Kayfer to get rid of me. I knew they realized what a threat I was to their plans of eventually ascending to the throne through quite bloody ways, and I knew they wouldn't hesitate to get rid of me. If I was taken to jail, and miraculously, Kayfer released me, Ulsa and Dawull not being able to convince him to get rid of me, my loyalty would be questioned when they'd discover I was arrested trying to get into the Lord Provost's home, usually every Rogue's worst enemy and competitor. If they'd do some poking around, they'd realize that I had siblings up there, which I did not want them to know. My siblings would be the perfect blackmail for Kayfer, or even Ulsa and Dawull, to use against me, and I didn't want my siblings in any threat of danger. I frowned at all my grim, and quite plausible, thoughts, forcing myself to focus on the situation at hand.

Once I was done carefully analyzing the Lord Provost's defense, I pulled out the white blonde wig I had been hiding for quite a long time in one of my inner pockets in my dress, something I personally asked to be added to the dress. I quickly slipped my wig onto my hair, making sure no one noticed me. I focused my eyes purely on the house of the Lord Provost, where my siblings lived and stepped out, putting on yet another persona. Confidence seemed to pour out of me as I took long strides, but not too long, elsewise it wouldn't be ladylike, towards the guards in front of the servants' gate, one that looked less protected and made me seem less suspicious. A broad smile was plastered across my face as I strode up to one of the guards, the one who looked like he had less experience than the other. He had chestnut brown hair cut short and hazel brown eyes with a certain type of innocence, uncertainty, and friendliness that I wasn't used to seeing in seeing lads his age, around 15. By even 10, most children have learned to be wary of everyone. Mayhaps this kid was raised in the Lord Provost's House and wanted to be 'noble' by helping protect the Lord Provost. That supports my hope of the servant's gate not being very well-guarded. I felt bad for taking advantage of this lad's innocence, but it needed to be done, so with a bright smile, I asked the lad, "Would you mind letting me in, sir? My siblings live here, and I decided to visit them, for it has been too long!"

The lad's glims shined with excitement, probably glad to finally do something in his new job. I felt guilt rise up in me once more that quickly receded as I eyes the other guard. He looked at me suspiciously, his dark glims examining every inch of my body in a calculating, assessing way. I suppressed a shiver at the way he was looking at me, not liking the way he seemed to be able to observe me for just ten second and know more about me than by siblings do.

"Timothy, this is what I was talking about before! You can't let those who seem to be nice into the Lord Provost's house just like that. Now," he said, turning to me with his unnervingly seemingly all knowing eyes on my ice blue eyes, "how can we get some proof that you're telling the truth." He didn't even bother trying to ask politely, his blunt nature appealing to me, strangely, despite him being a Dog.

Timothy looked at the other guard. "I know, Jakorn, but for Mithros's sake, please be more polite to this woman, after all she is a respectable young lady." He couldn't be more far away from the reality of me, but still, I smiled. I wasn't Beka Cooper, rusher, now. I was,= a simple, respectable young lady who wished to visit her dear old siblings. So the older guard's name was Jakorn...interesting.

"Fine," _Jakorn_ grunted. He looked me straight in the eyes, unflinching as he continued, "would you mind showing me an' me partner evidence of your identity as you claim it is because we must be careful here, understood _miss_?" He spit out the word mist like it was poison.

"Of course," I said smiling directly at the more experienced guard, Jakorn. "You can call up Nilo; he's my brother." I could at least say that without any guilt, because, as much as he might which I wasn't sometimes, I would always be his sister. At least, I would be his sister forever unless he does what Diana did. I regained control over my mind's wandering thoughts, forcing myself to focus on the present. If I let myself think about Diana for too long, the bright smile plastered on my face would soon become noticeably fake, even to amateurs. With Jakorn already looking at me in suspicion, I knew that if he noticed one more thing off about me, he would "kindly" escort me off the property. At this point, he wouldn't care much about the younger guard's opinion.

"Nilo, hm?" Jakorn stated more than asked, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "He's a good lad.." Jakorn trailed off, letting me easily realize what he was thinking, and what he wanted me to know. _He's a good lad, and he shouldn't have business with the likes of you._ I couldn't argue with that. Nilo and my siblings did deserve more, if only-no I wouldn't think of the 'if onlys'. It only hurts more when I thought of the 'if onlys' and what could've been.

Jakorn was messing with my head more than any rusher had, and that unnerved me, so I quit pretending to be nice. Asserting my dominance, I rose my head slightly and met his eyes with my own, unflinching. If he wanted to see who I really was, he'd get it. "I believe that is sufficient enough evidence Guardsman. Now, will you get Nilo for proof or let me in?" I asked, done playing around. I knew this probably would get me kicked out, if he didn't know for sure before that I was a threat, he'd have known it by then. Judging by the glint in his glims, he agreed with me and was preparing himself to forcefully extract me from the area. It was a foolish idea, to challenge a Guardsman, but no one had challenged me before the way he was, and I wouldn't tolerate it. Challenges in the Court had taught me that giving even a little bit of ground to a challenger would lose me the entire game, and possibly my life; Jakorn was trying to gain ground, and I wasn't planning on dying today.

Jakorn raised his brow, a silent challenge, before opening his mouth to speak. Timothy was rolling back on his heels, trying to casually lean against the wall so as to hide any fear or nervousness within him, but he failed. Timothy was rapidly hitting his palm against his knee, and his eyes kept darting around. Even a four year old would be able to tell that he was nervous. Meanwhile, I shifted my stance to get ready to flee or fight. A short squeal interrupted the rather tense atmosphere.

"BEKA! YOU CAME! I mean, of course you were coming, after all, you told me you would, but Will thought you wouldn't because he said 'Beka can't be that stupid,', but you're here, so apparently, according to Will, you are stupid. Ha-he better start running! What do you want to do first, I have so many ideas! We can go to the stables, chase after each other, mess with the bees in the beehive hung on the lone oak tree, or play pranks on Will, and maybe on Lorine, but she's been pretty grumpy lately, so I don't know...but, if she doesn't want to, we can play pranks on some of the guards, of course not you Jakorn or Timothy, but some of the guards here are pretty mean-" Nilo rambled on. I could see the shock on Jakorn's face; he obviously didn't believe me before, and Timothy, well, he looked pretty happy and cheerful, like Nilo.

I cut him off sharply, I knew Nilo, he could talk to a tree for hours and not get bored, "Nilo, please calm down."

"But Beka…" Nilo trailed off, giving me his famous puppy eyes. At that moment, I realized that Nilo had given away my real name. Jakorn was picking up on that quite quickly, and I could practically see the wheels in his brain turning and making sure to store the name "Beka" in his brain under the section: possible dangerous people.

I gave Nilo a look to silence him. He shut up, giving up on the puppy eyes. He should know by now that I was merciless and immune to puppy eyes. If those pleading eyes worked on me, I would've died a long time ago, probably from doing something Nilo wanted, like trying to fly by jumping off the tallest building in the Lower City. Sure, it wasn't that tall compared to others, but I would've probably still died. "Nilo, remember the dare about the building? You should know I'm immune to your pleadings."

Nilo gave me a different look, one that was full of hope and despair and said in a small voice, "Will you still play with me?"

I am so bad with kids. I didn't realize how harsh I was being with him. Nilol had come running with his fantasies, and I had stomped on them. Cursing myself in my head, I said, bending down to his height, while still making sure to keep both of the guards in my line of vision, "Of course I will. After all, without us, who will aggravate Will and make his life more interesting?"

Nilo smiled brightly, and just like that, my worry dissipated. "Alright, come one then Beka!" He yelled, pulling on my sleeve into the building. As I left, I made sure to turn around to make sure the guards weren't going to come after us. I was relieved and slightly confused with what I saw. As expected, Timothy looked quite happy and proud, probably proud of himself for reuniting a poor maiden with her long lost brother. I had to hold in a snicker at the thought. Jakorn, on the other hand, was another story. Sure, he didn't look like he was going to come after me, and his face was blank of all emotions, but his glims told a different story. His glims had a glint to them that looked happy and satisfied. Surely I read that wrong, Jakorn wouldn't be satisfied or happy about this situation at all, I mean he had just lost the chance to kick me out of the palace, right? I stopped myself from reading to much into it and let Nilo lead me into unfamiliar territory.

The afternoon and most of the evening was spent as predicted. Nilo and I went to the stables, chased after each other, messed with the bees in the beehive hung on the lone oak tree, and played pranks on Will, just like Nilo wanted to. I put my own spin to the things he said, and by the end of it, we were covered in dirt and dirt from falling of our horses due to playing a quite interesting game, had grass stains on our clothes from tripping over the numerous sticks we set up as an obstacle course meant to be taken on while we were chasing each other, had hands sticky with honey due to us finding a different way to reach the beehive without disturbing the bees, and had on expressions that might've made us look insane because Will's reactions to our pranks were hilarious, especially when he realized that I was pretending to be a lady in waiting, making faces at him. Nilo and I cleaned up (there was no way I was going to let Diona and Lorine find another reason to hate me, and they would get angry if they saw Nilo the way he looked now) and said our farewells to each other. This time, I learnt my lesson and didn't promise to see him in the Lord Provost's House. It was pure luck that I had gotten in this time, and I didn't want to tempt fate. I heard that the Gods often took that as a challenge.

Instead, we separate ways peacefully (well, as peacefully as we could with Nilo acting like he would never see me again), and I parted ways with him in a random, empty corridor in the building. I planned to walk straight out and never look back, but in the corner of my eye, I saw a room with many papers everywhere, and I couldn't resist. I quickly peered into the room and realized it was _his_ office. It wasn't what I had imagined. I thought it would be full of hostile colors like white, but it was quite homey with warm colors like orange decorating the room. Reluctant to admit I kind of like _his_ office, I instead looked over the papers scattered all over the desk and criticized him. One paper, however, caught my eye, with the words "Shadow Snake" wrote in big letters. I narrowed my eyes, suspicious, and walked into the office with a moment of hesitation that was quickly disregarded. With large strides, I reached the paper in a short amount of time and read it without picking it up, not wanting to somehow mess up any order _he_ had with his papers because it would make _him_ suspicious. As I read, cases and dates printed clearly on the paper popped out at me, and I felt rage fill me, replacing the previously found happiness and peace I had gained with Nilo. This had been given to _him_ , according to the dates, a year ago. I couldn't believe the Dogs got so many pleas for help, so many cases about the Shadow Snake, and hadn't done a single sarden thing about it. Sure, I hadn't been much better, but it was their job to protect the people of the Lower City, you'd think they at least would do something about the Shadow Snake.

As I was trembling with anger, I heard footsteps that my anger didn't quite block out, so I scrambled to hide in the first place I saw, under the desk. Holding my breath, I saw feet covered in black, formal shoes, striding into the room, picking up a pile of files, that included the one I had just been looking at. The person walked out of the room, his or her footsteps echoing after him or her. I forced myself to stop trembling; I hadn't been caught, but an something in me told the truth to me: that I could've been arrested right then and there, and I could still be arrested. Pushing aside all my wimpy thoughts, I stood up and did what I knew I needed to do: I followed the person who picked up the files, leaving _his_ , the Lord Provost's, office. It wasn't hard to catch up to the person who had taken the papers (I had discovered that the person, was indeed, a male) because he didn't walk quickly, so I could easily follow him without fear of losing him, however, following him and not looking suspicious was a different matter. I had to stop at certain places and let him get out of my sight, before continuing my quest following him. Eventually, after we passed several corridors and I received several glares from ladies who clearly didn't like me, we had gotten outside the house and I watched with bated breath, wondering what he would do.

The man stepped out into the darkness, as the sun had already set, and threw all the files into a pile. I slipped outside, so the man could go into the house without noticing me. Once he was gone, I took a few hesitant steps towards the pile of things before racing there to confirm my guesses on what the pile was. I felt sick in my stomach as I realized it was the trash pile, as I had suspected. I couldn't believe this: first, the Lord Provost ignored a serious case for about a year, then he sends for it to be thrown away. As I looked at the other papers thrown away, disgust continued to fill me,. Papers talking about things like Palace drama surrounded the Shadow Snake papers. It was disgraceful. I made up my mind right then, and I snatched the Shadow Snake papers before disappearing into the night.

Once I reached my home, with Irene looking peacefully on the bed, I let what I had done sink in. Technically, I had stolen from the Lord Provost. Sure, it was his trash, but I had still stolen from him. A grin appeared on my face at the thought. A small meow interrupted my thoughts and bursted my bubble. _Beka, stop being hateful! It will get you nowhere besides in the Cages!_ Pounce meowed, his violet eyes gleaming dangerously. I sighed, and having no energy to fight with him, nodded hazily at Pounce before laying on the floor. The last thing I thought of was what exactly the papers had on them, after all, I had merely glanced at them.

 **A.N. Happy Holidays! May the odds be ever in your favor (all who get this quote should be praised)!**


End file.
